nuclear-news

Japan’s former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi calls on opposition to challenge LDP’s nuclear policy

Koizumi calls on opposition to challenge LDP’s nuclear policy, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, July 24, 2018 

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has criticized the Abe administration for its pro-nuclear energy stance and called for the policy to be made an election issue when Japanese go to the polls next year.

In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo, Koizumi, 76, said, “It isn’t possible any more for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to end nuclear power generation. He did not try to do so, even though he could have.”

Among extremely rare remarks for a former prime minister and former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker to make, Koizumi also said he expects opposition parties to make ending Japan’s reliance on nuclear power a key point for debate in the next Upper House election to be held in summer 2019.

Koizumi made his anti-nuclear stance clear in a news conference in 2013, seven years after he stepped down as prime minister.

Since then, he has repeatedly demanded that the Abe administration change its energy policies and bring nuclear power generation to an end.

Koizumi expressed disappointment at Abe’s response to that demand……..http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201807240057.html

July 25, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics