Japan happy that Amano elected next IAEA chief, vows backup+

TOKYO, July 3 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Friday he was happy that Yukio
Amano was elected as next director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency and vowed to offer backup to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

''As the only country to suffer atomic bombings...it is natural that we offer
steady backup in various aspects'' when Amano, who is from Japan, formally
becomes the director general, Nakasone told reporters a day after the election.
But on whether Japan will specifically extend financial assistance to the IAEA,
Nakasone said only that he would like to ''monitor the situation from now on.''
In Hiroshima, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba also expressed pleasure Friday, saying, ''I
hope he will demonstrate his abilities to lay a concrete path toward nuclear
arms abolition.''
The 62-year-old Japanese ambassador to the Permanent Mission to the
International Organizations in Vienna on Thursday received the required
two-thirds majority of votes cast, making him the first IAEA chief from an
Asian country. The voting was held by the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors.
Amano's four-year term as director general will start in December, after formal
approval expected to be given at the IAEA's annual general meeting in
September.
Challenges apparently facing him after taking the post are the Iranian nuclear
issue and the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, which conducted its second
nuclear test recently.
==Kyodo