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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 004913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; 
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; 
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; 
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 10/22/07 
 
 
Index: 
 
Defense Ministry allegations: 
1) Defense contractor scandal involves retired bureaucrats and even 
former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lawmaker (Mainichi) 
2) Former Vice Defense Minister Moriya allegedly favored giving CX 
engine contract without open bidding to defense contractor who 
provided favors (Asahi) 
3) Moriya reportedly played golf over 100 times at posh club with 
defense contractor always paying the tab (Tokyo Shimbun) 
4) Defense contractor close to Moriya reportedly held lavish party 
for his daughter studying in US (Yomiuri) 
5) Moriya denies he did anything improper by having close ties to 
leading defense contractor (Yomiuri) 
6) Impact of Moriya scandal inevitable on the government's new 
antiterrorism special measures bill (Mainichi) 
7) Defense Minister says Moriya should respond to Diet summons to 
testify as witness (Asahi) 
 
Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) refueling mission under attack: 
8) Diet deliberations on new antiterrorism bill start tomorrow; DPJ 
may delay submitting its counter-proposal (Yomiuri) 
9) MSDF covered up since 2003 a mistake in records of refueling - 
reported 200,000 gallons and not 800,000 gallons delivered to Pecos 
(Asahi) 
 
10) Prime Minister Fukuda tells Ambassador Schieffer of possibility 
that MSDF refueling in Indian Ocean may be halted for a while due to 
legislative tussle (Tokyo Shimbun) 
11) 48 PERCENT  of public approve, 43 PERCENT  disapprove continuing 
MSDF refueling operations in the Indian Ocean (Mainichi) 
 
12) Government to propose in talks with US on host nation support a 
cut of 10 billon yen in the special budget (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
13) Fukuda Cabinet support rate plummets 11 points to 46 PERCENT 
(Mainichi) 
 
14) US-Japan talks this week in Washington on issue of removing 
North Korea from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism, which 
Japan opposes (Asahi) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) Yamada Corp. employs retired Defense Ministry official and even 
former DPJ lawmaker 
 
MAINICHI (Top Play) (Slightly abridged) 
October 21, 2007 
 
A former senior managing director of Yamada Corp. a trading company 
specializing in defense and aircraft equipment in Minato Ward, 
Tokyo, which has been found to have treated former Vice Defense 
Minister Takemasa Moriya to free rounds of golf, has provided senior 
Defense Ministry officials with lucrative postretirement posts. 
According to a former company executive, the number of such 
ex-officials reached eight at one time. The company was also eager 
to employ family members of senior ministry officials. Former 
lawmaker Shozo Azuma of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is now 
an advisor to the company. It has been found that the company's 
collusive ties with politicians and bureaucrats were behind its 
successive winning of large contracts from the Defense Ministry. 
 
TOKYO 00004913  002 OF 009 
 
 
 
According the former company executive, the former senior managing 
director was managing all practical business affairs, including 
personnel appointments, by himself. Of about 150 employees (in 
2005), there once were about as many as eight advisors who came from 
the Defense Ministry. 
 
According to several retired bureaucrats who moved to the company, 
they receive the same pay that they had received just before they 
retired or more. Most of them go to work two or three times a week, 
are given few duties, but are asked to obtain information on 
equipment the ministry plans to purchase or to give advice on how to 
win contracts. 
 
Former lawmaker Azuma assumed the post of an advisor to the company 
about 10 years ago through the introduction of a politician. In an 
interview on Sept. 12, he said: "I think that the company expects me 
to offer special favors to the company when I become influential in 
the future." 
 
2) Former Vice-Defense Minister Moriya urged ministry to conclude 
discretionary contract with Nihon Mirise on CX engine 
 
ASAHI (Top play) (Excerpts) 
October 21, 2007 
 
Former Administrative Vice-Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, 63, 
while in office in July this year, stated as a dictum that the 
ministry should conclude a discretionary contract with Nihon Mirise 
Corp. (NMC), a Minato Ward, Tokyo-based up-and-coming trading firm 
specializing in defense equipment, for procuring the engine in the 
Air Self-Defense Force's next-generation transport aircraft 
codenamed CX, the Asahi Shimbun has learned. The total cost of the 
engines comes to nearly 100 billion yen. Although Moriya's 
subordinate explained the ministry's plan to conduct an open bidding 
for the sake of transparency, Moriya continued to press the ministry 
to give favorable treatment to NMC. Moriya often played golf with 
the NMC president, a former executive of Yamada Yoko Corp., at the 
expense of the president when he was still with that company. Some 
take the view that Moriya's statement favoring NMC came from his 
close personal relationship with the company's president. 
 
Moriya made the statement on July 2, the day the Asahi Shimbun 
reported on a controversy over the shipment of the aircraft's 
engine. This newspaper reported that although Nihon Mirise and 
Yamada Yoko had been rivals to become the agent of General Electric, 
the engine's US maker, the result would be in Mirise's favor because 
GE had announced that it would switch from Yamada to Mirise as its 
agent at the end of July. The president of Mirise left Yamada Yoko 
after locking horns with the owner of the company. Their conflict 
has eventually escalated into a lawsuit centered on which would sell 
the aircraft engine. 
 
The day the newspaper carried the article, a Defense Ministry 
official briefed Moriya on the competitive bidding process. But 
Moriya allegedly was adamant: "It's not easy to become an agent. I 
think we should conclude a discretionary contract with Nihon 
Mirise." This was taken by some in the ministry as indicating that 
Moriya was trying to defend the Mirise president who was having hard 
times and that the two were extremely close. 
 
3) Former Vice Defense Minister Moriya treated to free golf possibly 
 
TOKYO 00004913  003 OF 009 
 
 
more than 100 times, using false name in many cases 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Top Play) (Excerpts) 
October 20, 2007 
 
It has been revealed that former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa 
Moriya, 63, had frequently played golf with a former senior managing 
director, 69, of Yamada Yoko Corp., a trading company specializing 
in defense and aircraft equipment based in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
According to sources familiar with the matter, Moriya played golf 
with the former executive possibly more than 100 times, registering 
a false name in many cases. It is prohibited under the Self-Defense 
Force code of ethics enacted in 2000 for defense officials to play 
golf with parties concerned, including contractors. It is suspected 
that Moriya, keeping this regulation in mind, used a false name. 
 
According to the sources, the former company executive frequently 
played at golf courses run by a company affiliated with Yamada Yoko 
Corp. in Saitama and Chiba. There were many cases in which their 
wives joined the two. The company paid the bills for costs for 
playing golf and food and drink out of an expense account. 
 
4) Former Yamada Yoko Corp. executive threw party for Moriya's 
daughter in US several years ago 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
October 20, 2007 
 
A 69-yaer-old former Yamada Yoko Corp. executive, who frequently 
played golf with former Administrative Vice-Defense Minister 
Takemasa Moriya, 63, also treated Takemasa's second daughter to 
wining and dining in the United States several years ago, the 
Mainichi Shimbun has learned. The former executive admitted it in an 
interview with the newspaper. According to the former executive, a 
party was held to celebrate the daughter's admission to a language 
school in the United States. Playing golf with a defense contractor 
is prohibited under the Self-Defense Force ethics regulations. It 
has already been found that Moriya and his wife played golf with the 
former executive in violation of the regulations. It has now become 
clear that the former executive had questionable relationships with 
all the family members of the top Defense Ministry official. 
 
According to the former executive, Moriya's daughter, desiring to 
pursue studies at a US graduate school, was enrolled in a language 
school to improve her English skills. Around that time, the former 
executive threw a party to encourage her at a steak house in New 
York and footed the bill. Prior to her departure for the United 
States, persons connected with a Yamada Yoko's US arm helped 
Moriya's daughter in finding a place to stay and in purchasing daily 
necessities. Other expenses were paid by the daughter, according to 
the former executive. 
 
5) Moriya to underling: "Why is it wrong" to award a discretionary 
contract on the CX engine to a company with which he had close ties 
when he was vice defense minister? 
 
YOMIURI (Page 35) (Excerpt) 
October 22, 2007 
 
Former vice defense minister Moriya frequently received favors a 
former executive at Yamada Yoko Corporation, a trading firm 
specializing in the aircraft and defense areas. It was learned that 
 
TOKYO 00004913  004 OF 009 
 
 
at a meeting with subordinates this year in July, while he was still 
vice minister, Moriya asked "what is wrong" with awarding a 
discretionary contract to the former executive, who had formed his 
own separate trading firm. The view that formed in the ministry at 
the time was that Moriya had intimate ties with that executive. The 
ministry as a result began to question Moriya about the facts. 
 
6) Question of Diet testimony certain to affect deliberations on new 
antiterrorism legislation 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) 
October 20, 2007 
 
The issue of wining and dining involving former Vice Defense 
Minister Takemasa Moriya is certain to affect the Diet timetable for 
deliberating an antiterrorism bill, the highlight in the current 
Diet session, as seen in the Democratic Party of Japan's (Minshuto 
or DPJ) call for summoning Moriya to the Diet as a witness. Although 
the ruling parties are in agreement to begin deliberating the bill 
on Oct. 23, the opposition camp is set to refuse Diet deliberations 
unless the summoning of Moriya is realized. 
 
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba in a press conference on Oct. 19 
expressed his intention to interview Moriya, saying, "I would like 
to confirm matters as necessary." In a House of Councillors Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee meeting that day, the DPJ demanded 
Moriya be summoned to the Diet as a witness. The party plans to 
grill the government over the Moriya scandal, in addition to the 
suspected diversion of oil provided by the Maritime Self-Defense 
Force in the Indian Ocean for use in the Iraq war. 
 
The ruling and opposition camps are in agreement for the government 
to explain the new antiterrorism bill and take questions on Oct. 23. 
The ruling parties intend to begin deliberations on Oct. 24 after 
explaining the reason for submitting the bill at a House of 
Representatives antiterrorism and Iraq assistance special committee 
meeting on Oct. 23. DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama, however, 
indicated that Diet testimony was a major condition for Diet 
deliberations. The showdown between the ruling and opposition camps 
is likely to intensify. 
 
7) Defense minister: Moriya should accept a summons to appear before 
Diet as sworn witness if Diet makes decision 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Full) 
October 21, 2007 
 
Speaking at the Japan National Press Club yesterday, Defense 
Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that former Vice Defense Minister 
Takemasa Moriya, who had been receiving favors from an interested 
party (defense contractor), should accept a summons to appear before 
the Diet as a sworn witness if the Diet decides to summon him. Asked 
about the opposition camp's demand that Moriya be summoned to the 
Diet, Ishiba said: "The Diet decides whether to summon him or not. 
Once the Diet decides to do so, he should accept." 
 
Ishiba indicated his intention to launch an investigation of 
Moriya's activities at an early date, saying: "If it is impossible 
to directly contact him, we will have to carry it out even through 
an appropriate intermediary. It should be done as soon as 
possible." 
 
 
TOKYO 00004913  005 OF 009 
 
 
Asked about the Maritime Self-Defense Force's (MSDF) refueling 
service to the multinational force's supply ships endorsed under the 
government's new bill to extend the MSDF mission in the Indian 
Ocean, Ishiba replied: "If measures are worked out to prevent fuel 
from being used for other purposes than stipulated in the law, 
banning the MSDF from refueling supply ships will be meaningless." 
 
Ishiba also indicated his view that there was no problem with the 
guarantee that fuel provided by the MSDF to US warships would not to 
be used for other purposes than Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), 
which is aimed at rooting out terrorism (in Aghanistan). 
 
8) DPJ eyes delaying Diet deliberations on new antiterrorism law 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
October 22, 2007 
 
The government will explain a new antiterrorism bill and take 
questions from each party at a Lower House plenary session tomorrow 
in order to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling 
operation in the Indian Ocean. The ruling bloc intends to explain 
the reason for submitting the new legislation at an antiterrorism 
special committee meeting tomorrow. However, given a new scandal 
involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya and the 
government's failure to swiftly correct the amount of fuel provided 
by the MSDF to a US oiler, how things will unfold remains to be 
seen. 
 
The ruling parties plan to: (1) report to the Diet on Oct. 22 about 
the Defense Ministry's investigative results regarding the question 
of the incorrectly registered amount of oil provided to the US 
refueler by the MSDF and the question of a discarded MSDF logbook, 
(2) explain the grounds for submitting the new antiterrorism 
legislation at the antiterrorism special committee meeting on Oct. 
23 after the government explains the new law and takes questions in 
the Lower House plenary session earlier in the day, and (3) start 
committee deliberations on Oct. 24. 
 
The major opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto or DPJ) is 
in accord with the ruling bloc to hold a plenary session on Oct. 23. 
The largest opposition party, however, is also considering 
postponing committee deliberations. Early on, there was reluctance 
in the DPJ about delaying full-fledged deliberations, thinking that 
it might be taken by the general public as a boycott of discussions. 
But the revelation of the scandal involving Moriya has prompted the 
DPJ to play hardball. 
 
9) MSDF covered up error in fuel supply amount 
 
ASAHI (Top play) (Abridged) 
October 22, 2007 
 
The Defense Ministry has now corrected the amount of fuel provided 
by the Maritime Self-Defense Force to a US supply ship in the Indian 
Ocean in February 2003. The Defense Ministry first announced that 
the MSDF supplied 200,000 gallons to the US oiler, but it later said 
the amount of fuel supply was 800,000 gallons. On this issue, the 
Maritime Staff Office was aware of the error in 2003. Nevertheless, 
the MSO did not report it to Shigeru Ishiba, the then director 
general of the Defense Agency, now the Defense Ministry, and covered 
it up, sources revealed yesterday. The Defense Ministry will punish 
those officials and will announce its findings today. Concerning 
 
TOKYO 00004913  006 OF 009 
 
 
this issue, the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan 
(Minshuto) will call for summoning to the Diet the then Joint Staff 
Council chairman and other MSDF top brass officers, including the 
MSDF chief of staff, as sworn witnesses. If they are not summoned, 
the DPJ will then refuse to deliberate on a new legislative measure 
for refueling assistance. 
 
The fuel supply in question was made on Feb. 25, 2003, by the 
Tokiwa, an MSDF supply ship, to the USS Pecos, a US Navy supply 
ship. On the same day, the Pecos refueled the USS Kitty Hawk, a US 
Navy aircraft carrier. The Kitty Hawk thereafter arrived in the 
Persian Gulf and engaged in military operations against Iraq. She 
was therefore suspected of having used MSDF-supplied fuel for the 
Iraq operations. 
 
In those days, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was the chief cabinet 
secretary, and Defense Minister Ishiba was also the Defense Agency 
 
SIPDIS 
director general. In their briefings at that time, both Fukuda and 
Ishiba said the MSDF supplied 200,000 gallons. Both Fukuda and 
Ishiba denied the Kitty Hawk's suspected diversion of MSDF-supplied 
fuel, maintaining that the 200,000 gallons refueled to the Kitty 
Hawk is an amount she consumes within a one-day timeframe. In 
September this year, however, the Defense Ministry corrected its 
initial announcement, recounting that the previously announced 
amount of fuel supplied to the Pecos was 800,000 gallons. 
 
The Defense Ministry held hearings with officials who were in charge 
of the matter in those days, according to a top-level official of 
the Defense Ministry. Shortly after Fukuda and Ishiba made their 
respective press briefings in 2003 on the MSDF's fuel supply, an MSO 
section in charge of the matter learned that the amount of fuel 
actually supplied by the Tokiwa to the USS Pecos was not 200,000 
gallons but was 800,000 gallons. Nevertheless, the MSO section did 
not report it to Ishiba or the MSDF chief of staff, who heads all 
MSDF personnel. This fact later became known, according to a Defense 
Ministry top-level official. The fact was kept at the level of field 
officers and was not reported to the top brass. 
 
The question is why they did not report it. The top-level official 
of the Defense Ministry said, "It looks like those in charge at that 
time thought to themselves that there was no diversion of the fuel 
to (military operations in) Iraq even if the 200,000 gallons 
increased to 800,000 gallons, so they seemed to have judged that it 
didn't matter much." 
 
"I feel a serious sense of crisis about civilian control," Kenji 
Yamaoka, chairman of the DPJ's Diet affairs committee, told 
reporters yesterday in Tokyo. Yamaoka indicated that the DPJ would 
ask the Diet to summon Prime Minister Fukuda and Deputy Chief 
Cabinet Secretary Masahiro Futahashi as sworn witnesses, in addition 
to the summons of the Self-Defense Forces' top brass officials and 
former Administrative Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, who was 
the director general of the Defense Policy Bureau at the Defense 
Agency in those days. 
 
Gov't explanations in the past 
 
On May 9, 2003, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda told a news 
conference, "The Kitty Hawk consumes 200,000 gallons of fuel within 
a one-day timeframe and almost instantaneously consumes 
(MSDF-provided fuel)." Fukuda also said, "It's unlikely to be used 
for (US military operations in) Iraq." With this, Fukuda denied the 
 
TOKYO 00004913  007 OF 009 
 
 
suspected diversion of MSDF-supplied fuel. On May 15 that year, 
Defense Agency Director General Ishiba at the time also stated 
before the House of Councillors Budget Committee that he checked 
this matter with the United States. "Then," Ishiba stated before the 
committee, "we found that the MSDF provided 200,000 gallons to the 
US supply ship." 
 
In September this year, however, the Defense Ministry corrected the 
amount of fuel to 800,000 gallons. This correction came after Peace 
Depot, a civic group that checked into US naval logbooks through the 
United States' information disclosure system, pointed to the error 
in the amount of fuel supplied by the Tokiwa to the USS Pecos. 
 
Prime Minister Fukuda, sitting in on the House of Representatives 
Budget Committee during its Oct. 10 meeting, was asked about his 
explanation he made when he was chief cabinet secretary. "It was 
based on information from the Defense Agency (at that time), but I 
must apologize for the mistake," Fukuda stated before the committee. 
Defense Minister Ishiba explained before the committee during its 
Oct. 9 meeting, "The Maritime Staff Office mistook it for 200,000 
gallons provided to another ship." 
 
10) Prime minister tells US for first time that MSDF refueling in 
Indian Ocean "could be halted" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
October 20, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Fukuda on the afternoon of Oct. 19 met in his office 
at the Kantei with US Ambassador to Japan Schieffer. Referring to 
the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) refueling operation in the 
Indian Ocean, the prime minister stated, "It is possible that it 
will be halted for awhile." This was the first time for the prime 
minister to give an outlook that it would be difficult to pass a new 
antiterrorism special measures bill by Nov. 1, when the current 
legislation expires. 
 
The Ambassador replied, "We hope to see the operation continue and 
will do our maximum to cooperate." He said he hoped to see an early 
passage of the new antiterrorism bill. 
 
The prime minister then brought up the issue of the removal of North 
Korea's name from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism. He 
said, "It would not be desirable to remove North Korea's name from 
the list of states sponsoring terrorism." He urged the US not to 
remove it until progress is made on the Japanese abduction issue. 
 
11) Poll: 48 PERCENT  for, 43 PERCENT  against continuing MSDF fuel 
supply; 61 PERCENT  doubt antiterror deterrence 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) 
October 22, 2007 
 
The Mainichi Shimbun conducted a telephone-based nationwide public 
opinion survey on Oct. 20-21. In the survey, respondents were asked 
if they supported continuing the Maritime Self-Defense Force's 
refueling activities in the Indian Ocean. In response to this 
question, 48 PERCENT  answered "yes," with 43 PERCENT  saying "no." 
The figures were almost the same as "yes" at 49 PERCENT  and "no" at 
42 PERCENT  in a spot survey taken Sept. 12-13 after former Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement of his resignation. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004913  008 OF 009 
 
 
Respondents were also asked if they thought the MSDF's refueling 
activities, which are said to be part of the war on terror, help 
deter terrorism. To this question, 61 PERCENT  answered "no," with 
32 PERCENT  saying "yes." The results show public opinion that is 
not necessarily linked to the pros and cons of continuing the MSDF's 
refueling mission. 
 
Those who answered "yes" were further asked to choose one reason 
from among three reasons given. In response, 65 PERCENT  chose 
"Japan should do so for its international contributions." This 
reason overwhelmed the other two, with 18 PERCENT  choosing "Japan 
should do so to prevent its relations with the United States from 
worsening," and 16 PERCENT  saying "Japan should participate in the 
war on terror." 
 
Those who answered "no" to continuing the MSDF's refueling mission 
in the Indian Ocean were also asked to choose one reason from among 
three. To this question, 48 PERCENT  answered that Japan should 
contribute to the international community in a different way," 
topping all other answers, with 37 PERCENT  saying "it's strange to 
take part in a US war" and 13 PERCENT  saying "it's 
unconstitutional." 
 
Meanwhile, Ichiro Ozawa, president of the leading opposition 
Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), has advocated sending the 
Self-Defense Forces to participate in the International Security 
Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Asked about this SDF 
participation in ISAF, 62 PERCENT  answered "no," with only 26 
PERCENT  saying "yes." The figures show Ozawa's advocacy of ISAF 
participation has yet to obtain public understanding. 
 
12) Government proposes 10 billion yen cut in sympathy budget 
(host-nation support) but US expresses unwillingness to accept it 
 
TOKYO (Page 3) (Excerpts) 
October 22, 2007 
 
It was learned yesterday that during consultations between the 
Japanese and US government on the special measures agreement on 
host-nation support for US forces in Japan (the so-called sympathy 
budget), now being negotiated, the Japanese side proposed cuts of 
approximately 10 billion yen in the various allowances paid to 
Japanese workers employed at US bases. Different from such matters 
as utilities, consideration was given "not to inflict a wound on the 
Japan-US alliance" (high-level Japanese government official) by 
cutting various allowances that the US side would not deem necessary 
to compensate for. The US, however, has indicate its unwilling to 
accept the cuts. This was revealed by several sources. 
 
Defense Minister Ishiba is likely to stress to Defense Secretary 
Gates during their meeting scheduled for early Nov. that Japan is 
under a tight fiscal situation and seek his understanding for the 
cuts. However, following the halting of the Maritime Self-Defense 
Force's fuel operations in the Indian Ocean, there is a high 
probability of the US supply ships filling the gap made by the 
departing MSDF ships. Reaching a settlement this year on the support 
budget will indeed be difficult. 
 
13) Cabinet support rate at 46 PERCENT , down 11 points 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
October 22, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00004913  009 OF 009 
 
 
 
The approval rating for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his cabinet 
was 46 PERCENT , down 11 percentage points from the last survey 
conducted Sept. 25-26 right after the Fukuda cabinet's inauguration. 
The disapproval rating was 30 PERCENT , up 5 points from the last 
survey. By gender, the Fukuda cabinet's approval and disapproval 
ratings were 39 PERCENT  and 37 PERCENT  among men, with 51 PERCENT 
and 24 PERCENT  among women. 
 
In the breakdown of public support for political parties, the ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party stood at 27 PERCENT , down 5 points from 
the last survey. The leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan 
(Minshuto) was also at 27 PERCENT , up 1 point, ranking with the 
LDP. 
 
14) Japan, US to hold talks at beginning of the week on issue of 
removal of North Korea from list of states sponsoring terrorism; 
Vice foreign minister to travel to US 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Excerpt) 
Eve., October 20, 2007 
 
It was learned today that the Japanese and US governments will hold 
full-scale talks in Washington at the beginning of the week on the 
issue of the US removing North Korea's name from the list of states 
sponsoring terrorism. With the possibility growing stronger that the 
US will de-list North Korea at the end of the year, Japan and the US 
apparently will focus on settling the condition of whether there 
should be real progress on the abduction issue, as the Japanese 
government has been requesting. 
 
The issue of de-listing North Korea will be an important item on the 
agenda of Prime Minister Fukuda during his US visit, which is now 
being coordinated for mid-November. The plan is for Vice Foreign 
Minister Seitaro Yachi to meet Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte 
on Oct. 25, and coordinate at the administrative level before the 
Japan-US summit meeting. 
 
SCHIEFFER