ID :
21424
Fri, 09/26/2008 - 11:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/21424
The shortlink copeid
Ex-Prime Minister Koizumi to retire from politics
TOKYO, Sept. 25 Kyodo - Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed his intention Thursday to retire from politics when his current term as a lawmaker ends, people close to him said.
At a meeting in his hometown of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, Koizumi, 66,
said he will not run in the next House of Representatives election and that he
hopes his second son, Shinjiro, 27, will instead run in his place, they said.
''I have served as a parliamentarian for 36 years and my role is over,''
Koizumi was quoted by the attendees as saying. ''I want to step down
gracefully.''
Koizumi is currently serving as a lower house member of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party elected from the No. 11 district of Kanagawa, which covers
Yokosuka.
The popular politician plans to inform his supporters of his intention to
retire at a gathering in Yokosuka on Saturday and to name his son Shinjiro to
succeed him as the party's candidate for the constituency, according to the
people close to him.
Shinjiro, who attended Thursday's meeting with his father, asked for continued
support, indicating his desire to run in the next general election, the people
said.
Also on Thursday, Koizumi told former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, his
immediate predecessor, of his intention to resign but was quoted as noting then
that he would ''continue political activities such as supporting younger
lawmakers,'' according to a person informed of the conversation.
Koizumi, who was prime minister from April 2001 to September 2006, promoted
structural reforms including privatization of Japan's postal system as well as
four road-related public corporations.
While in office, he made two trips to North Korea -- in September 2002 and in
May 2004 -- for talks with the reclusive country's leader Kim Jong Il and
secured the repatriation of five Japanese abductees and their families.
Koizumi also remained a staunch supporter of the United States, Japan's closest
ally. When the United States declared a war on Iraq in 2003, he quickly
expressed support for the U.S.-led invasion.
Japan later sent ground troops to Iraq in 2004 on a humanitarian mission in the
wake of the invasion. The deployment was a sensitive issue under Japan's
war-renouncing Constitution, as by the Japanese government's current
interpretation Self-Defense Forces cannot be sent to combat zones.
Domestically, his Cabinet enjoyed high support ratings, but Japan's diplomatic
ties with Asian neighbors suffered during his term as he angered countries such
as China and South Korea by making annual visits to the war-related Yasukuni
Shrine in Tokyo.
In the 2005 general election, Koizumi campaigned on the single issue of postal
privatization and the LDP claimed a landslide victory, securing with its junior
coalition partner, the New Komeito party, more than two-thirds of the seats in
the lower house, the more powerful chamber of Japan's bicameral parliament.
==Kyodo
At a meeting in his hometown of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, Koizumi, 66,
said he will not run in the next House of Representatives election and that he
hopes his second son, Shinjiro, 27, will instead run in his place, they said.
''I have served as a parliamentarian for 36 years and my role is over,''
Koizumi was quoted by the attendees as saying. ''I want to step down
gracefully.''
Koizumi is currently serving as a lower house member of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party elected from the No. 11 district of Kanagawa, which covers
Yokosuka.
The popular politician plans to inform his supporters of his intention to
retire at a gathering in Yokosuka on Saturday and to name his son Shinjiro to
succeed him as the party's candidate for the constituency, according to the
people close to him.
Shinjiro, who attended Thursday's meeting with his father, asked for continued
support, indicating his desire to run in the next general election, the people
said.
Also on Thursday, Koizumi told former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, his
immediate predecessor, of his intention to resign but was quoted as noting then
that he would ''continue political activities such as supporting younger
lawmakers,'' according to a person informed of the conversation.
Koizumi, who was prime minister from April 2001 to September 2006, promoted
structural reforms including privatization of Japan's postal system as well as
four road-related public corporations.
While in office, he made two trips to North Korea -- in September 2002 and in
May 2004 -- for talks with the reclusive country's leader Kim Jong Il and
secured the repatriation of five Japanese abductees and their families.
Koizumi also remained a staunch supporter of the United States, Japan's closest
ally. When the United States declared a war on Iraq in 2003, he quickly
expressed support for the U.S.-led invasion.
Japan later sent ground troops to Iraq in 2004 on a humanitarian mission in the
wake of the invasion. The deployment was a sensitive issue under Japan's
war-renouncing Constitution, as by the Japanese government's current
interpretation Self-Defense Forces cannot be sent to combat zones.
Domestically, his Cabinet enjoyed high support ratings, but Japan's diplomatic
ties with Asian neighbors suffered during his term as he angered countries such
as China and South Korea by making annual visits to the war-related Yasukuni
Shrine in Tokyo.
In the 2005 general election, Koizumi campaigned on the single issue of postal
privatization and the LDP claimed a landslide victory, securing with its junior
coalition partner, the New Komeito party, more than two-thirds of the seats in
the lower house, the more powerful chamber of Japan's bicameral parliament.
==Kyodo
