Government to concede to LDP on post offices network

The government will accept the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s demand in a meeting Thursday that post offices are legally required to be evenly situated nationwide even after privatisation, government sources said Wednesday.

The government’s first concession over its policy to privatise Japan’s postal system is apparently intended to move forward with the submissions of bills to legislate the policy during the ongoing Diet session through June.

The concession was agreed upon when the ministers in charge — Heizo Takenaka and Taro Aso — visited Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at his office Wednesday afternoon, the sources said.

The move came after the LDP warned Tuesday that it may freeze the ongoing negotiations with the government on the policy unless its key request is accepted.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, who also attended the meeting with Koizumi, indicated afterward the government is ready to concede to the LDP.

Under Koizumi’s initiative, Takenaka has led the plan to privatise Japan Post in stages starting in April 2007 while Aso, internal affairs and communications minister, has been assigned to overseeing the public corporation.

“We will have to continue talks with the ruling parties. The time is coming to actively exchange opinions on various concerns,” Hosoda, the top government spokesman, told a press conference.

“We should not forget that postal services are a business that should benefit the general public,” he said.

The LDP has proposed that one of Japan Post’s spin-offs will be legally required to ensure post offices stay evenly situated across Japan, irrespective of regional populations and profitability, so that the current network can be maintained.

Under a basic policy adopted last September, the government has tried to make the requirement nonbinding.

Hosoda indicated, however, the envisaged concession still falls within the scope of the basic policy.

Koizumi, speaking briefly to reporters, said he will continue to pursue the privatisation “based on the basic policy,” without elaborating.

The LDP’s policy panel on postal reform agreed in a meeting Tuesday to consider the freeze unless the government makes an acceptable proposal in their next round of negotiations scheduled Thursday.

Koizumi has placed top priority on passing a set of postal privatisation bills during the regular Diet session, but the bills’ planned submission by mid-March has been delayed due to the prolonged negotiations with the LDP.