The Yomiuri Shimbun
It is an enigmatic keepsake from former Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Kan told former Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Yoshiaki Takaki on Aug. 29, shortly before his resignation as prime minister, to resume screening procedures to include pro-Pyongyang high schools in the government's tuition waiver program.
The screening procedures were suspended in the wake of North Korea's artillery shelling of a South Korean island last November. The former prime minister's administration said the situation on the Korean Peninsula was considered to have returned to conditions prior to the shelling, but we would like to ask if there are any grounds for that.
It is true that talks between North and South Korean senior officials were held in July for the first time in two years and seven months. U.S.-North Korean talks also took place in the same month.
However, the former administration did not explain in detail its assessment of the situation on the Korean Peninsula. It is still very difficult to understand why screening procedures would be resumed on what looked like last-minute instructions from the outgoing prime minister.
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New govt should explain
In the last Diet session, Kan was grilled over suspicious donations by his political funds management organization to a civic group closely connected with a relative of a suspect in the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea.
It is a matter of course that the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which has raised concerns about Kan's abrupt instruction regarding pro-Pyongyang high schools, is demanding the new administration rescind the instruction.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and education minister Masaharu Nakagawa, however, have indicated they will carry on with the former prime minister's directive.
The two said in their inauguration speeches that Kan seemed to have made the judgment based on such factors as the resumption of talks between North and South Korea.
However, we think the current Cabinet cannot obtain public understanding for resumption of the procedures unless it makes a clear explanation based on its own assessment.
The screening will take two months. If they are deemed eligible for the government's tuition waiver program, 10 pro-Pyongyang high schools around the country will receive schooling assistance grants totaling at least 200 million yen from the government to compensate them for tuition.
Since the screening procedures have already started, the education ministry must scrutinize whether the schools' accounts are transparent.
The pro-Pyongyang schools are closely linked with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), which is under North Korea's influence. We are afraid the grants might be used for purposes other than waiving tuition.
The education ministry is said to check documents submitted to it by the schools, but if necessary, the ministry should send officials to the schools and seek direct explanations from their administrators.
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Program needs review
Some observers say students at pro-Pyongyang schools may have been taught untruths about the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea and other issues.
According to screening standards set by the education ministry, if problems are found in the curriculum or other elements of a school, the education minister can inform its administrator about them as points of concern. If any problem is found during the screening procedures, the education minister should strongly urge school officials to improve it voluntarily.
Reviewing the government's high school tuition waiver program, which has been advocated by the Democratic Party of Japan-led governments, is also a pressing issue.
A joint agreement reached by the DPJ, the LDP and New Komeito includes a clause that they would discuss necessary reviews of what form the waiver program should take from next fiscal year.
We hope the new administration will study the effects of the program thoroughly, considering the nation's difficult fiscal condition.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 9, 2011)
(Sep. 10, 2011)
Saturday, September 10, 2011
10/09 Lawmakers cautious over Maehara's arms remark
Lawmakers in both the ruling and opposition parties are taking a cautious stance toward remarks about a possible review Japan's three principles on arms exports made by Seiji Maehara, chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan's Policy Research Committee.
The possibility of reviewing the principles was discussed last December, when the administration of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan was working out a national defense program guideline.
However, the Social Democratic Party opposed the idea, and with Kan not keen on it, the issue was dropped. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was serving as the finance minister of the Kan Cabinet at the time, supported the possible review.
Some officials in the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry said that though they thought such a review was impossible under the Kan administration, they expected Noda might move forward on the matter.
However, one of Noda's aides said, "Nothing indicated that he [Maehara] had coordinated his views with the government." It is therefore uncertain whether the issue will be on the agenda at the Japan-U.S. summit meeting.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said, "We'll consider the issue." But in the afternoon he revised his remark.
"For now, we have made no concrete decisions on how to proceed with the debate. I believe [Maehara] was giving his personal opinion," Fujimura said.
The positions of Fujimura and other DPJ members remain to be articulated due to the party's internal situation, in which members who formerly belonged to the Japan Socialist Party and some other members strongly oppose the review.
In an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun and other media, Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said, "It remains to be seen whether [Maehara's remark] will be considered as merely one opinion within the party."
Some members of the opposition parties, which the Noda administration wants to cooperate with on post-disaster reconstruction, voiced cautious views on the matter.
New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said: "How does the [new] government interpret the original purpose behind the three principles, namely that Japan should not be party to escalating or expanding armed conflict? How does the government intend to project or change Japan's image in the international community? Debates on these points have been totally insufficient."
In the wake of changes to decision-making policies after the launch of the new Cabinet, the DPJ's chairman of the Policy Research Committee has gained strong authority, such as the power to prescreen government-sponsored bills prior to submission to the Diet.
Maehara himself has a reputation for voicing strong ideas, but not being able to realize them, as was seen in his reactions to the construction of Yamba Dam when he served as the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister.
Some lawmakers expressed concern that his stance over the review of the three principles may cause confusion.
(Sep. 10, 2011)
The possibility of reviewing the principles was discussed last December, when the administration of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan was working out a national defense program guideline.
However, the Social Democratic Party opposed the idea, and with Kan not keen on it, the issue was dropped. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was serving as the finance minister of the Kan Cabinet at the time, supported the possible review.
Some officials in the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry said that though they thought such a review was impossible under the Kan administration, they expected Noda might move forward on the matter.
However, one of Noda's aides said, "Nothing indicated that he [Maehara] had coordinated his views with the government." It is therefore uncertain whether the issue will be on the agenda at the Japan-U.S. summit meeting.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said, "We'll consider the issue." But in the afternoon he revised his remark.
"For now, we have made no concrete decisions on how to proceed with the debate. I believe [Maehara] was giving his personal opinion," Fujimura said.
The positions of Fujimura and other DPJ members remain to be articulated due to the party's internal situation, in which members who formerly belonged to the Japan Socialist Party and some other members strongly oppose the review.
In an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun and other media, Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said, "It remains to be seen whether [Maehara's remark] will be considered as merely one opinion within the party."
Some members of the opposition parties, which the Noda administration wants to cooperate with on post-disaster reconstruction, voiced cautious views on the matter.
New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said: "How does the [new] government interpret the original purpose behind the three principles, namely that Japan should not be party to escalating or expanding armed conflict? How does the government intend to project or change Japan's image in the international community? Debates on these points have been totally insufficient."
In the wake of changes to decision-making policies after the launch of the new Cabinet, the DPJ's chairman of the Policy Research Committee has gained strong authority, such as the power to prescreen government-sponsored bills prior to submission to the Diet.
Maehara himself has a reputation for voicing strong ideas, but not being able to realize them, as was seen in his reactions to the construction of Yamba Dam when he served as the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister.
Some lawmakers expressed concern that his stance over the review of the three principles may cause confusion.
(Sep. 10, 2011)
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