The Foreign Ministry should have ignored remarks by a key lawmaker that two nongovernmental organizations be barred from an international conference on Afghan aid, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
Speaking at the House of Councilors Budget Committee, Koizumi said the ministry "cared too much" about remarks by Muneo Suzuki, chairman of the House of Representatives Steering Committee, calling for the NGOs' exclusion from the meeting.
The Foreign Ministry "does not have to accept what influential politicians say, if it is not appropriate," he said. "I expect Mr. Suzuki's clout in the ministry to decline dramatically."
The two NGOs were barred from the first day of the two-day aid conference that began Jan. 21. After an outcry, they were eventually allowed to join other NGOs as observers on the final day of the conference.
Ministries and their Diet backers have sometimes had improper ties, Koizumi said, adding he plans to tackle the problem.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party agreed to set up a team to investigate Suzuki's role in barring the two NGOs from the international conference.
Suzuki is "the symbol of the cozy relationship between politicians and bureaucrats," DPJ Secretary General Naoto Kan told a meeting of party lawmakers.
SDP Secretary General Mizuho Fukushima said, "Reform pledged by Mr. Koizumi has shown its true colors, making people wake up from being mesmerized."