Small Japanese party leaves ruling coalition over broken promise on US base, reports say

more images

more images

Reports: Japan party quits government over US base

TOKYO — A small party decided Sunday to leave Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s ruling coalition over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base off Okinawa island, media reports said.

Hatoyama on Friday dismissed Gender Equality and Consumer Affairs Minister Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, after she refused to sign a Japan-U.S. agreement to move the American base to a less crowded part of Okinawa.

Executives of the Social Democrats decided at a meeting Sunday to withdraw from the ruling coalition, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency reported. Party officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Because of the party’s small size, the departure of the Social Democrats is unlikely to bring down Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan-led government. But his poor handling of the base row could hurt the Democrats’ performance in upper house elections expected in mid July.

Hatoyama’s decision to keep the base on Okinawa, broadly in line with a 2006 deal forged by the previous Japanese government, helped heal Tokyo’s ties with Washington but broke the prime minister’s campaign promise to move the base off the southern island. It has infuriated Okinawa residents who have long complained about the heavy U.S. military presence.

Fukushima, who has supported the Okinawans, said Friday that her dismissal meant Hatoyama had turned his back on Okinawa. “My dismissal is a betrayal of the people,” she said.

Hatoyama had urged Fukushima’s party to stay in the coalition.

Social Democrat deputy chief Seiji Mataichi told reporters Sunday that “Hatoyama has lost rational judgment and is not capable of living through a crucial situation. He no longer qualifies as leader of the country.”

The Democrats have 310 seats in the 480-member lower house, while the Social Democrats have seven. The Social Democrats hold five seats in the less-powerful upper house, where Hatoyama’s party and another coalition partner together have 122 seats — just over a majority.

Hatoyama repeatedly apologized Friday for failing to keep his pledge to move the base off the island, which hosts more than half the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a 1960 joint security pact.

He said Futenma’s helicopter and air assets were needed for nearby U.S. Marine infantry units on Okinawa in times of emergency, citing the recent sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.