G-8 unlikely to set mid-term CO2 cut goal, but to tackle oil surge

TOKYO, June 18 Kyodo - Japan sees no need for the Group of Eight nations to agree at the July summit on a medium-term target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but expects the event to serve as a step toward tackling rising oil and food prices, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.

Fukuda also urged North Korea to act expeditiously in fulfilling its promises
to reinvestigate the issue of its abductions of Japanese nationals during an
interview with Kyodo News and other news agencies from the G-8 countries,
apparently to alleviate public disappointment at Japan's recent decision to
partially lift sanctions on Pyongyang.

As for domestic issues, the prime minister expressed the view that it would be
difficult for Japan to enact any time soon a permanent law authorizing the
dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces overseas whenever the government thinks it
necessary, and that an early hike in the consumption tax may be inevitable
given Japan's aging society.

With climate change expected to be a major topic at the upcoming G-8 summit
that Japan will host, Fukuda said a medium-term carbon-capping target for
developed countries ''does not necessarily have to be set'' at the summit and
that such negotiations will take place at the United Nations, dashing the hopes
of Europe and environmentalists who are calling for the group to set a 2020
target.

But he also said G-8 leaders need to hold ''constructive discussions to achieve
specific results including a long-term target,'' referring to Japan's proposal
last year to halve global emissions by 2050.

''We would like to achieve political outcomes that will promote the creation of
an effective framework'' to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012,
he said, adding, ''I think this is the responsibility of the G-8 (summit).''

Japan is placing priority on having all major economies take part in the new
framework to succeed the Kyoto pact, which critics say is ineffective because
it fails to cover such major emitters as China, India and the United States.

The United States refused to ratify it.
Fukuda stressed the need for member nations at the summit, where the rise in
oil and food prices is expected to be another major topic, to send ''some kind
of message'' aimed at eliminating their negative effects on the world economy.

''I think we need to present a direction by sending out some kind of message at
the G-8 (summit),'' he said.

But he also said it would be difficult for the G-8 nations to drastically stem
the rises in oil and food prices over the short term under what he calls a
''complex'' situation.

Meanwhile, in relation to North Korea, Fukuda said it is the same as ''not
making promises'' if Pyongyang ''takes time'' over the reinvestigation of the
abduction issue and in cooperating in handing over Japanese radicals who
hijacked a plane to the country in 1970.

Fukuda did not give a specific time frame for North Korea, saying, ''The time
constraints will be within the scope of common sense.'' But he stressed the
importance of the two sides engaging in negotiations with sincerity.

Pyongyang made the promises in working-level talks between Japan and North
Korea last week in Beijing -- the first full-fledged bilateral meeting between
the two sides since last September. But Japan's decision to partially lift
sanctions in response disappointed the abductees' family members, with many
saying it is too early to do so.

Touching on domestic issues, Fukuda said it would ''take some time'' to see the
enactment of a permanent law for dispatching SDF troops overseas for
peacekeeping operations, which is currently restricted under the war-renouncing
Constitution.

Japan will continue to deal with individual issues by a ''separate law'' if
necessary, Fukuda said, referring to the need for temporary legislation such as
existing laws authorizing the current SDF missions in Iraq and the Indian Ocean
in support of U.S-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan.

Fukuda also hinted that raising the consumption tax from the current 5 percent
at an early date may be unavoidable given the increasing social security costs
of dealing with Japan's aging society.

''The choices are becoming fewer, considering the aging of society,'' Fukuda said.

Fukuda, who is struggling amid sluggish support ratings, also made clear that
he is reluctant to dissolve the House of Representatives for a general election
by the end of the year.

''There is no time for the time being for any dissolution,'' Fukuda said,
citing the tasks he would face later in the year such as reforming the social
security and tax systems.

Given that the lower house's current four-year term runs until September 2009,
Fukuda is believed unlikely to risk a general election that could see the
ruling coalition of his Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party lose
the overwhelming majority it currently holds in the chamber.

With the House of Councillors controlled by the opposition parties, managing
the divided Diet has been a constant headache for the 71-year-old prime
minister who took office in September last year.

Fukuda gave the group interview to news agencies from Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States ahead of Japan's hosting of the G-8
summit in Hokkaido on July 7-9. The G-8 also includes Canada. ==Kyodo