Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is considering reshuffling his cabinet, in a bid to reinforce the government's reconstruction efforts after a massive quake and tsunami.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is considering reshuffling his cabinet as soon as June, in a bid to reinforce the government's reconstruction efforts after a massive quake and tsunami and to strengthen his standing within the ruling party, Kyodo news agency said on Wednesday.
Kan, under fire for his response to the disaster and the ensuing nuclear emergency, is mulling creating ministerial posts to lead reconstruction work and the continuing atomic crisis, Kyodo said, citing sources close to the prime minister.
Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the government plans to this week submit a bill to parliament seeking to add three cabinet positions to the current 17.
"We would like to organise the structure to strengthen our handling of reconstruction with (a minister to) respond to the earthquake damage as well as the nuclear plant. There are also various ministers among the 17 now that hold multiple posts," Edano told a news conference.
Deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku will likely be tapped for the post handling reconstruction, while Goshi Hosono, an aide to Kan and a ruling Democratic Party lawmaker, is seen as a strong candidate for the role managing the nuclear accident at a Tokyo Electric Power <9501.T> plant, Kyodo said.
The earthquake and tsunami on March 11 triggered cooling system malfunctions at Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, causing radiation to leak into the atmosphere and ocean.
Engineers are still struggling to bring the plant under control.
The reshuffle could come soon after the end of the current session of parliament on June 22, but Kan may postpone it until just before an extraordinary session of parliament expected to start in August, Kyodo cited the sources as saying.
Already Japan's fifth premier in as many years, Kan has seen his ratings sink below 30 percent on concerns about his leadership and faces calls from both inside and outside his own party to step down although few expect him to quit easily.
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