Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a fresh vow Thursday to support the United States and actively take part in international efforts to combat terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

In convening the 153rd extraordinary Diet session, Koizumi pledged to swiftly enact laws that will enable the Self-Defense Forces to provide logistic support to the U.S. and multinational forces should they launch a retaliatory attack.

"After I visited the sites of the terrorism attacks, I was filled afresh with strong anger toward such atrocious acts," Koizumi said. "Based on the spirit of international cooperation, let us confront this crisis to protect the peace and liberty of the human race worldwide."

Stressing that the Japan-U.S. relationship is the core of the nation's diplomacy, he pledged to strive to ensure that the bilateral security system will function effectively.

He added that Japan will closely monitor the economic situation and cooperate with other nations to stabilize the global economy, including the financial system and exchange market.

"Prepare for the worst; the best will take care of itself," he said, adding that the government will consider mapping out emergency defense legislation so it can take appropriate steps in case of a national crisis.

Koizumi also promised to reinforce immigration control by increasing staff and installing more equipment to detect forged passports.

On the economic front, another focus of the 72-day session, Koizumi expressed his determination to carry out structural reforms.

"The nation is being tossed about by raging waves of global economic change," he said. "To overcome such change, I will carry out structural reforms to boost economic growth."

Koizumi called for the public to accept the current economic trend of deflation, which has hit Japan for the first time in the prosperous postwar era, and take on the new era.

"Evolutionist Charles Darwin once said that the living creature that survives is not the strongest nor the smartest," Koizumi recalled. "It is the creature that can cope with change."

Although Koizumi said he will cap the annual issuance of government bonds at 30 trillion yen in drawing up a supplementary budget, he added that he will cope "boldly and flexibly" with the economic situation.

He reiterated that Japan will reign in the problem of nonperforming loans that is weighing heavily on banks, within three years.

To achieve this goal, the government will step up inspections of major financial institutions and enable the quasi-governmental debt-collector Resolution and Collection Corp. to purchase more bad loans from banks. RCC's purchase of "gray zone" loans will make it easier for banks to clean their balance sheets.

In addition, the government will take legislative steps to create a stock-buying body in January to absorb a portion of banks' cross-shareholdings and help with the foundering Tokyo market.

He said his administration will map out a basic policy of the "reform-implementation budget" for fiscal 2002 and that the government will draw up a middle-term economic plan.

To ease public anxiety over rising unemployment, the government will create jobs in such fields as nursing and day care.

Koizumi emphasized the government will draw up a plan by the end of the year to streamline public corporations that will eventually lead to a reduction in expenditures.

Four major public corporations, most notably Japan Highway Public Corp., will be "trailblazers," he said, and among the first to be scrapped or privatized.

Koizumi expressed regret over a series of arrests over a vote-canvassing scandal that led to the resignation earlier in the week of Kenji Koso, an Upper House lawmaker of his own Liberal Democratic Party. He also expressed disappointment over a series of embezzlement scandals in the Foreign Ministry.

Koizumi also stressed the importance of building a "future oriented" relationship with South Korea and China while making clear that Japan would deal with its wartime and prewar history.