A foreign policy hardliner has gained a stronger presence in the administration since he accompanied Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Pyongyang for his historic Sept. 17 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, 48, was one of the first politicians to insist on the early recovery of a North Korean spy ship that sank off the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture after a gunbattle with Japan Coast Guard vessels late last year.
He was also one of the first to demand punitive measures targeting North Korea.