INTERVIEW-Japan finmin should not be LDP--Koizumi
By Reed Stevenson
TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - Japan's next finance minister should be chosen from the private sector
and not from the ranks of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), prime ministerial candidate
Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday.
Koizumi said the new finance minister should be from the private sector should be someone who can
talk about the economy ''in his own words,'' rather than repeating words prepared by the Ministry
of Finance (MOF) bureaucrats.
''I think it is difficult (to choose a finance minister) from the LDP,'' Koizumi told Reuters Television
(RTV).
Koizumi also said he will not accept a cabinet post if one of his rival candidates, Foreign Minister
Keizo Obuchi and former chief cabinet secretary Seiroku Kajiyama, wins the party presidency, and
thus the prime ministership.
''I will not take any post in an Obuchi cabinet or a Kajiyama cabinet,'' he said.
Koizumi said the Japanese people and his supporters were expecting him to change the current
political situation, adding that neither of his rivals were up to the task.
''The Japanese public wants change. Does Mr Obuchi have a sense of change? -- I don't think so.
Mr Kajiyama, neither,'' Koizumi said.
Asked about Thursday's move by U.S. rating agency Moody's Investors Service to put Japan under
review for a possible downgrade of its top-notch Aaa debt rating, Koizumi said he hoped if a prime
minister ''with vision'' were chosen, the rating agency will change its view.
''The most important task (for the next prime minister) is to recover confidence in the Japanese
economy and politics,'' Koizumi added.
While acknowledging that Obuchi seemed to have the lead on Friday's vote for the party presidency,
Koizumi said he had no plans to seek the support of Kajiyama backers in a runoff election.
A runoff election between the front-runner and the runner-up will be held if no candidate wins the
majority of the total 414 votes.
He also added that he will ask his supporters not to leave the LDP even if he lost the presidential
election.
A Kyodo news agency report said young opponents of party stalwart Obuchi were considering
leaving the LDP and voting against Obuchi in a parliamentary vote on July 30 to approve the next
prime minister.
On diplomatic policy, Koizumi said that the ties between the United States and Japan will remain the
most important relationship for Tokyo.
''Past, present, and future, U.S.-Japan ties are the most important for Japan and the rest of the
world,'' he said.
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