Japanese Consumer Affairs Minister Sacked

2010-05-28 19:03:18 Xinhua Web Editor: Zhang

Japan's Consumer Affairs Minister Mizuho Fukushima enters Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's official residence in Tokyo May 28, 2010. [Photo: Agencies]

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has sacked Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima as the consumer affairs minister from his cabinet, state broadcaster NHK reported Friday.

The dismissal came after Fukushima refused to sign the cabinet resolution on the issue concerning the relocation of the U.S. Futenma base, it said.

Japan and the United States have agreed to relocate the Futenma airbase in Okinawa to the Camp Schwab Henoko-saki area and adjacent waters in Okinawa, with the runway portions of the facility to be 1,800 meters long, basically in line with a deal the two sides struck in 2006.

The left-leaning party, one of the junior coalition parties of the Hatoyama Cabinet, is opposed to the relocation plan and insisted the base should be moved out of the southern island prefecture.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano will replace Fukushima as the consumer affairs minister, NHK said.

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