TOKYO, (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has appointed new party executives to his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), hours ahead of an expected cabinet reshuffle aimed at pushing a reform package.
Two former ministers and an ex-defence agency chief were promoted to senior party positions as Koizumi prepared his first cabinet reshuffle since retaining his leadership of the country in a party election a year ago.
Cabinet reshuffles routinely occur in Japanese politics under the conservative LDP to appease factions by rotating portfolios in proportion to the factions' numerical strength, political influence and fund-raising clout.
But Koizumi declared last week that he would not give cabinet posts to members of the long-ruling, scandal-hit LDP if they opposed his cherished plan to privatise postal services.
Former farm minister Tsutomu Takebe, who was named as the party's number two, told reporters he was resolved to support Koizumi's reform actions which have come under fire from some party members.
"Including postal reform, I was told (by Koizumi) to do my utmost," said Takebe, who was ousted in September 2002 amid criticism of his handling of the mad cow crisis.
"I responded that I will do my best."
Former defence chief Fumio Kyuma was named chairman of the LDP general council while former trade and industry minister Kaoru Yosano became the new policy research council chairman.
"I will do my utmost to ensure the Koizumi government's reform programmes progress smoothly," Yosano said told reporters.
Hiroyuki Hosoda, 60, told reporters Monday that he had been retained as the government's top spokesman in the post of chief cabinet secretary.
The entire cabinet resigned on Monday in a formality ahead of the shuffle to be announced later in the day.
Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka, 53, a former economics professor who was elected to the upper house in July, was expected to take on a new high-profile post aimed at privatizing the nation's postal services.
Takenaka was also seen certain to retain his post as economic and fiscal policy minister while giving up his financial services portfolio in charge of the banking sector now that Japan's bad loan problem is under control.
The postal reform plan, a central element of Koizumi's reform drive, was approved by the cabinet earlier this month.
The plan aims to divide the state-backed post office, which controls massive postal savings and insurance plans, into four entities starting in 2007.
Kazuo Kitagawa, 51, the policy chief of coalition partner New Komeito, was likely to be tapped as economy, trade and industry minister, replacing Shoichi Nakagawa, 51, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.
Kuniko Inoguchi, a Yale-educated female political science professor at Tokyo's Sophia University, was seen as a replacement for the unelected Yoriko Kawaguchi, 63, one of three female ministers in the most recent cabinet.