A committee of Japan's upper house of parliament approved privatization of the postal service yesterday, sending the package to the full chamber for a vote expected to deliver a crucial victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform plans.
The bills would split up and sell off Japan Post's delivery, savings deposit and insurance services by 2017, creating the world's largest private bank.
Koizumi has argued that the change is needed to put the system's massive amount of deposits at the disposal of private investors.
The powerful lower house of parliament approved the package on Tuesday, and the upper house was expected to follow suit later yesterday.
Even without upper house support, the ruling coalition's two-thirds majority in the lower house means it can enact bills on its own.
The upper house, which Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dominates only with the help of a coalition partner, rejected the package in August, prompting the prime minister to call snap lower-house elections that he billed as a referendum on postal reform.
But the LDP's landslide victory in the Sept. 11 elections has convinced some former opponents to support the project.
"Japanese voters have shown in the last elections their deep understanding toward Prime Minister Koizumi who says pos-tal reform is the core of his reform program," Tsutomu Takebe, secretary general of the LDP, said before the vote.
Heizo Takenaka, economics minister and architect of the reform proposal, told the committee after its approval of privatization that the government was determined to do all it can to push through reform.
"We will make our utmost efforts, respecting your strong will," Takenaka said.
The legislation would start the division of Japan Post in late 2007.
Proponents argue the reform would make more efficient use of Japan Post's ?330 trillion (US$3 trillion) in savings and insurance deposits, while streamlining the country's enormous delivery service.
Reform opponents fear the bills will lead to job losses and would put ordinary people's savings in the hands of untrustworthy private investors.
They also argue that privatization will lead to a reduction in delivery services in sparsely populated rural areas.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and