A spat escalated within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan intimated he would not resign until the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant comes under control, predicted to be sometime in January.
A spat escalated within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan intimated he would not resign until the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant comes under control, predicted to be sometime in January.
Stymied and in high dudgeon, Yukio Hatoyama, Kan's predecessor, resorted to name-calling as he demanded the prime minister leave office sooner rather than later.
"It's taken for granted that Kan will make good on his promise," Hatoyama told reporters June 3. "If he doesn't, he is an impostor."
Hatoyama said he plans to ask for a meeting of DPJ lawmakers from both houses of the Diet to demand Kan's resignation.
At a news conference on the night of June 2, Kan suggested that he would step down around January, when reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are expected to be brought to cold shutdown.
Hatoyama met Kan before the Lower House voted down a no-confidence motion against Kan's Cabinet earlier in the day. Hatoyama said Kan promised to resign by the end of June.
Kan later told a meeting of DPJ lawmakers that he would resign once a certain level of progress had been made in post-quake rebuilding and in dealing with the nuclear crisis.
Kan's "promise" effectively killed the no-confidence motion. Only two DPJ lawmakers supported it, although around 60 close to former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa had been expected to side with the opposition.
But the timing of Kan's resignation remained ambiguous, touching off fresh DPJ bickering.
Ryu Matsumoto, minister in charge of disaster management, backed Hatoyama's assertion, telling a news conference on June 3 that he had understood that Kan would leave by the end of June.
A Lower House member said, "If Kan does not resign soon, we have to bring him before a meeting of DPJ lawmakers from both houses of the Diet."
A first-term Lower House member said Kan's offer to resign has solved nothing.
Azuma Koshiishi, chairman of the DPJ's Upper House caucus, urged an early resignation June 2, saying that it is meaningless for a departing prime minister to make promises in foreign affairs and other issues.
During their meeting, Hatoyama and Kan agreed that the government should complete preparations for an early compilation of the second supplementary budget and that the Diet should pass the basic law for reconstruction.
Hatoyama produced a memorandum on the discussions, but tellingly it made no mention of a resignation by Kan.
Kan told a Cabinet meeting on June 3, "I discussed with Hatoyama only what is written in the memo, and we didn't talk about anything beyond that."
Regardless, opposition parties are stepping up their attacks.
"(Kan) shouldn't stay on now that he said he will resign," Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, said June 3. "We cannot cooperate with the lame duck government."
Yoshihisa Inoue, secretary-general of New Komeito, also demanded that Kan resign, saying Kan's offer to resign will create a political vacuum.
A senior New Komeito official said June 2 the party will interrogate Kan in the Diet to pin him down on when he plans to leave office.
The dispute over the timing of Kan's resignation erupted soon after the no-confidence motion failed.
Hatoyama's interpretation was that Kan will resign after the government decides on key points of the second extra budget and the Diet passes the basic law for reconstruction.
Hatoyama said both conditions will be met by the end of June.
But DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada rejected Hatoyama's view, saying that the two issues in the memo are not conditions for Kan's resignation.
"The prime minister said, 'when a certain level of progress is made in responses to the disasters.' That's what he means," Okada said.
Asked about Okada's comments, Hatoyama was unable to restrain himself, telling reporters, "(Okada) is lying. People shouldn't tell lies."
At the news conference on June 2, Kan never said when he would resign, saying there are no other promises other than what is written in the memo.
But he said he plans to see the crisis at the Fukushima plant through as prime minister.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, said the company plans to reach a point where it can maintain reactor temperatures at under 100 degrees by January.
"In the second stage (of TEPCO's road map), the release of radioactive materials will almost end and the reactors will be brought to cold shutdown," Kan said. "That marks a certain level of progress in the nuclear accident."
A veteran lawmaker close to Kan said the memo is a political document, not a legal contract.
An overwhelming majority of 293 lawmakers voted against the non-confidence motion, compared with 152 who voted in favor.
DPJ leaders on June 2 decided to expel Lower House members Kenko Matsuki and Katsuhito Yokokume, who supported the motion. Matsuki is a close aide to Ozawa, while Yokokume has said he will leave the DPJ, criticizing Kan.
Okada will decide whether Ozawa and 14 other lawmakers who abstained from the vote should be punished.