Koizumi falters on postal reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appeared to make a major concession Tuesday on passage of a package of bills designed to reform the national postal system.

He previously had said the reforms would be a “milepost toward eventual privatization.”

But in a Lower House committee deliberating the postal system legislation Tuesday, Koizumi said no limits should be placed on the debate following the shift in status of the Postal Services Agency to a government-owned public corporation from April 2003.

The remark apparently was intended to placate a large number of lawmakers within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party who oppose privatization of the postal system.

Although postal reform is one of his pet projects, Koizumi said it was more important to allow private-sector firms to enter the potentially lucrative business.

“We are walking a tightrope because of the present situation in which private-sector firms cannot enter the postal business without the approval of a majority of Diet members,” Koizumi said. “While it is simple to say one is opposed to a bill which is not 100 percent satisfactory, the present bills are meant as a means of pushing the process forward step by step.”

LDP lawmakers who oppose privatization praised Koizumi’s change in attitude.