The Foreign Ministry filed an appeal Monday with the Tokyo High Court over a lower court ruling that rescinded a 2001 ministry rejection of a citizen group's request for the disclosure of documents on discretionary diplomatic funds, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday.
Aso said that the Tokyo District Court's decision last month was "extremely regrettable, as it rejected the state's argument that documents related to the funds are basically not to be disclosed."
He said discretionary funds are used for activities directly linked to obtaining secret information and behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations for the national interests, and the documents subject to the district court ruling contain "highly confidential information."
On Feb. 28, the district court rescinded the ministry's decision to reject the requests for information disclosure by Joho Kokai Shimin Center, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization involved in information disclosure issues, concerning most of the requested documents.
The court said the ministry's criteria for allocating the discretionary funds are ambiguous, noting some of the funds were spent on receptions, liquor purchases and other activities that do not necessarily fall into the category of confidential diplomatic expenses.