Aso apologizes for Nakagawa resignation, admits responsibility

TOKYO, Feb. 19 Kyodo - Prime Minister Taro Aso apologized Thursday in the Diet for the resignation on
Tuesday of Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister and said he, as premier, bears
sole responsibility for putting him in the post.
Speaking before the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Aso also said,
''It's very regrettable that at a time when the fiscal 2009 budget is being
discussed, the finance minister, who takes charge (of the budgetary process),
has been replaced.''
When pressed by Naoto Kan, acting president of the main opposition Democratic
Party of Japan, to admit responsibility in the matter, Aso said, ''I judged it
would not be a problem, as I heard he was taking care of his health recently.
But the responsibility for appointing him as a Cabinet minister (at the
Cabinet's launch last September) resides with me of course.''
Nakagawa stepped down Tuesday after he slurred his words and sometimes closed
his eyes at a weekend post-Group of Seven meeting press conference in Rome,
raising suspicion he may have been drunk at the time.
Kan said the prime minister should apologize and admit responsibility for
Nakagawa's conduct and what he termed as loss of confidence in Japan by the
world.
Aso, while apologizing for Nakagawa's conduct, denied it stemmed from heavy
drinking, saying, ''It was largely caused by medication.''
Nakagawa had said before resigning that his wobbly performance in Rome was
caused mainly by jet lag and taking too much cold medicine, brushing aside
speculation he was intoxicated at the time.
But Nakagawa also admitted Monday that he sipped wine at a luncheon before
attending the news conference. His fondness for drinking is well-known in
Japanese political circles.
Rintaro Tamaki, head of the Finance Ministry's International Bureau, said in
the lower house committee session that Nakagawa had himself ordered wine while
eating lunch with ministry officials and a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter prior to
the G-7 press conference.
Tamaki stressed, however, that Nakagawa had only sipped the wine.
Meanwhile, Aso said it is necessary to have the budget enacted by the March 31
end of the current fiscal year, saying, ''Early enactment and implementation of
the budget are essential to protect people's livelihoods.''
Aso and secretaries general of the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic
Party and the New Komeito party agreed Thursday to have the budget clear the
lower house on Feb. 26 after Aso returns from a three-day visit starting Monday
to the United States to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, lawmakers said.
The budget, if approved by the lower house, will be sent to the
opposition-controlled House of Councillors for approval. It will be enacted
even if the upper chamber opposes its passage, as under constitutional
provisions, the decision of the lower house prevails if an agreement cannot be
reached.
Regarding remarks made Wednesday by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
that he intends to sit out a lower house plenary session if the ruling
coalition forces passage of a bill needed to implement a controversial cash
handout plan through an overriding revote, Aso urged Koizumi to attend the
session and vote for the bill.
''It's difficult to gauge his true intention, but as long as he is a lawmaker
from the LDP, I'd like him to go along with the party's policy,'' Aso told the
budget committee
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said in a news conference,
''I take (Koizumi's) remarks seriously as they were made by a former prime
minister.''
But Kawamura asked Koizumi to think the matter over as he voted in favor of the
bill when the lower house passed it in January, and the LDP has decided to hold
a revote to pass the bill with a two-thirds majority, based on constitutional
provisions.
==Kyodo