Amid intensifying violence between rival yakuza factions, the National Policy Agency plans to label a new splinter faction a crime syndicate.
It will add the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi to a list of designated crime syndicates and thereby put the group under tighter control. There are already 21 groups on the list.
The agency originally planned to do this in June but is speeding up the process in light of growing violence and ahead of an upcoming global summit.