In private life, new Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura is unequivocal in his condemnation of the death penalty: Under no circumstances should one person be allowed to kill another, he says.

Under the present Penal Code, however, it is the justice minister who must sign the documents approving executions.

"As the head of the Justice Ministry, I believe that I must act in accordance with the present (death penalty) system under the rule of law," Sugiura, a former vice chairman of the Tokyo Bar Association, said in an interview Wednesday.