The government may give up on submitting a bill to upgrade the Defense Agency into a ministry during the current Diet session, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Monday.

"It is not an urgent issue," Koizumi told reporters at his official residence. "I want it to be discussed over time."

The government is waiting for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to win over its partner in the ruling coalition, New Komeito, on the bill.

New Komeito, whose members are mostly cool toward upgrading the agency, recently said it planned no discussions on the issue, following revelations that defense-related public works projects had been subject to rigged bids.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference in the morning that the government will see how discussions between the LDP and New Komeito develop.

In late January, three current and former officials of the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, which is under the Defense Agency's jurisdiction, were arrested for allegedly rigging bids for defense-related public works projects.

When asked whether the bid-rigging scandal, in which senior officials of the facilities agency are suspected of having been key players, would have an effect on the talks, the government's top spokesman said, "That is one factor that we will have to keep in mind."

LDP Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe said on a Sunday TV talk show the government should not stick to its initial target of presenting the bill to the Diet in mid-March.