Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected a request by his own Liberal Democratic Party on Monday to amend a set of bills now in the Diet that would privatize Japan Post, senior LDP members said.

Koizumi told Kaoru Yosano, the LDP policy chief, and some other senior members, "I don't permit amendments," according to Toranosuke Katayama, secretary general of the LDP caucus in the House of Councilors.

"If the bills fail to pass the Diet, it's OK with me to scrap them," Koizumi was also quoted as saying during a meeting with LDP executives at his office in the early afternoon.