Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, after joining a parliamentary group led by the Democratic Party of Japan, lashed out Wednesday at Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policies as she formally made her comeback to the Diet.

Wednesday was the first day of business for the 480 Lower House members who were elected in the general election Nov. 9.

Tanaka, who won back the seat in her Niigata Prefecture district as an independent, told reporters at the Diet building that Koizumi, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, has failed to carry out reforms or destroy "the old" LDP as promised.

"(Koizumi) had not undertaken any administrative reforms from the start," she said. "He had said he would destroy the LDP, but that is only his wish. . . . Politics have not changed at all and are still run by the LDP like before."

The Diet convened a short special session Wednesday to re-elect the prime minister following the victory of his ruling coalition in the House of Representatives election Nov. 9.

She also said Koizumi's Cabinet is failing on the diplomatic front, especially when it comes to what she called "absurd" polices on Iraq.

Tanaka stopped short of saying whether she would confront the prime minister during Diet debate.

"I am not concerned about it since there are so many great senior members and experts in this field in the DPJ," she said.

DPJ President Naoto Kan earlier said he expects the outspoken Tanaka to cooperate with him or even lead the opposition in a bid to topple the LDP.

The group Tanaka joined consists of 177 DPJ lawmakers and two other independents.

A parliamentary group is different than a political party and the smallest unit for Diet activities. Tanaka's membership in the DPJ-led group does not necessarily mean she is seeking to join the party.

Tanaka said she joined the group because a lawmaker cannot achieve much in the Diet by acting alone.

She recaptured her seat in the Lower House election 15 months after she gave it up following allegations she misused staff salaries.

The LDP suspended her party membership in July 2002 for two years after allegations surfaced three months earlier that she had misused government funds for paying secretaries. Prosecutors later said there was no case against her.

Like Tanaka, Koichi Kato, a longtime Koizumi ally, made his comeback to the Diet after giving up his seat last year.

"I'm having the same feeling that I had when I was first elected to the Diet (in 1972)," Kato told reporters as he entered the Diet building for the first time since he resigned as a lawmaker in April 2002 over a tax evasion scandal involving his top aide.

Kato indicated that Japan should take a cautious approach toward sending troops to Iraq, given the security situation there.

"I am afraid the Iraq situation has turned into a quagmire," said Kato, who officially rejoined the LDP following the election. "And unless we have a justifiable reason, Japan should avoid being overly involved."

SDP election fallout

Staff report Masako Owaki stepped down Wednesday as policy chief of the Social Democratic Party, taking responsibility for the party's crushing defeat in the Nov. 9 House of Representatives election.

Her resignation, announced and approved at a meeting of SDP lawmakers, has left two of the party's three top executive posts vacant.

Despite the SDP's status as minor opposition force, this is a rather unusual scenario for a political party active at the Diet level.

The other empty post is that of secretary general, the party's No. 2 position.