Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Wednesday requested that leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party urge rank-and-file party lawmakers to accept a compromise reform proposal put forward by the government over the status of three controversial services of the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.
Hashimoto said the government thinks that the three services -- "kanpo" life insurance, postal savings and mail delivery services -- should be transferred to a new public corporation in five years. However, LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato replied that it would be difficult for the LDP to accept the proposal because a number of party members are strongly opposed to it.
Hashimoto made the request while meeting with Kato, LDP policy chief Taku Yamasaki and Masakuni Murakami, head of LDP Upper House members, at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The meeting was hastily arranged to prevent the LDP, which Hashimoto heads, from ruining the prime minister's administrative reform drive. Whether to place the state-operated life insurance and savings services out of the government structure has been one of focal issues of administrative reform -- Hashimoto's top policy priority.