U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers entered into a flurry of talks with Japanese leaders Friday -- two days after the U.S. and Japan jointly intervened to prop up the ailing yen -- and repeated a call for Japan to promptly clean up the bad loans weighing down its economy.
Summers' request came during separate meetings with Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga, Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi, Koichi Kato, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, and others.
Kato detailed an plan the LDP is to complete working out by the July 12 Upper House election to establish a state-backed bank to take over bad assets and said the LDP would push the idea even if it meant using taxpayer money and inviting public criticism before the July 12 Upper House elections.