Japan's lower house passes bill to upgrade Defence Agency

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dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday November 30, 2006

Tokyo- Japan's House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to make the Defence Agency a ministry and give it more authority, media reports said. The bill - which was also expected to pass the House of Councillors during the current Diet session, which ends December 15 - would promote the agency's director general to defence minister, who would receive a similar level of authority as other members of the cabinet.

The bill passed the Security Committee and the lower house's plenary session Thursday by a majority vote from the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito.

If the bill passes the Diet, it would to take effect in January.

Japan's pacifist constitution, written after Japan's defeat in World War II, puts stringent restrictions on Japan's military, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made its revision a priority.

Under the legislation passed Thursday, the defence minister would be able to call for a cabinet meeting, pursue new legislation and directly request funding from the Finance Ministry.

Under the bill, international peacekeeping missions would be upgraded into one of the ministry's main duties, along with defence and disaster response.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency