Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday again refused to release a confidential record of interviews with the deceased chief of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, although he said the government might consider doing so at the family's request.

Suga's comment came in response to an earlier remark by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party).

Hashimoto bashed the government for not releasing the record of the government's interviews with Masao Yoshida, who was head of the plant during the triple core meltdown in March 2011.