ニュース 2010/10/15 Kan, Sengoku comment to reporters On October 15, Prime Minister and DPJ President Naoto Kan spoke to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office. In response to a reporter’s question as to whether he believed that he had achieved the “true-to-its-word Cabinet” he had sworn to realise, Kan said, “The Cabinet reshuffle and the swearing in of a new party executive took place at the same time, and the cooperative relationship between the DPJ and the Cabinet has been consolidated. Implementation [of policies] will take place from now, but we have initiated the formation of a strong and united party and Cabinet. It is just one month since the launch [of the new government] but a positive direction has been created.” On the morning of the same day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku held his regular press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office. He reported that Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshihiro Katayama had made remarks regarding the possibility of reviewing the budgetary self-assessments to be carried out by regional branch offices of central government institutions under the plan to reform such branch offices, and that in response, Prime Minister Kan had urged that the reform of regional branch offices be implemented as planned and expressed the opinion that he wanted each Cabinet members to implement reforms that were more advanced than existing measures. Sengoku went on to announce that the former President of the Japanese Trade Union Federation, Kiyoshi Sasamori, had been appointed as a special advisor to the Cabinet, and would be responsible for providing information and advice to the Prime Minister regarding national government in general and employment and social security in particular. Sengoku also commented on the government’s future response to the rapid strengthening of the yen, saying, “As the Minister of Finance has been saying, in the event of sudden fluctuations we will respond with the most appropriate measures, including firm measures, and both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance are keeping a close eye on the current situation.” In addition, Sengoku expressed his own opinion that the response should take place after the government had looked at both the changes in the real economy, including that of emerging nations, and in market trends. Finally, Sengoku commented on the government’s future response to the issue of Japanese citizens who had been abducted by North Korea, saying, “Determined efforts, including by the government’s Abduction Issue Headquarters and the organization of family members of the abductees, are being made to resolve the abduction issue from a whole variety of angles. We hope that the citizens of Japan will maintain their interest in this issue, and believe that we must use every available channel to resolve the abduction issue as soon as possible.”