The Defense Agency was formally renamed the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, giving military officials a greater hand in the government's strategic policy-planning bodies.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070110a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='162'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reviews a Self-Defense Forces honor guard during a ceremony Tuesday marking the official launch of the Defense Ministry at its headquarters in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. </B> SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>During a formal military review at the ministry's headquarters in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it is the time to 'depart from the postwar regime' and give more esteem and power to the nation's long-frustrated military.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'I'm proud to be the prime minister who is launching the Defense Ministry as the organization in charge of national defense,' Abe said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Defense Agency was most recently a subordinate body under the Cabinet Office.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>However, the recent security threat posed by North Korea has given defense officials more say in national security, including the difficult negotiations on realigning the U.S. military presence in Japan.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>As a result, defense officials have become the key players in talks with the U.S. Defense Department.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Abe pledged to establish the body as 'a policy-planning ministry,' and defense officials hope this will allow them to take over some of the responsibilities long monopolized by the Foreign Ministry.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'We have to strengthen our policy- –

functions," said Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, who was the agency director general.

According to a set of laws on the transition enacted in December, the defense minister will now be allowed to make budget requests or policy suggestions at Cabinet meetings and make overseas operations a primary mission of the Self-Defense Forces.

Until Tuesday, it was the prime minister who proposed defense-related issues.

Where the line will be drawn between the Foreign and Defense ministries has not yet been decided, but Kyuma said there won't be any major changes in their responsibilities for the time being.