Four opposition parties call for H&W vice minister to testify and then resign

The ruling parties are trying to settle the problem of the Health, Welfare, and Labor Vice Minister's use of his influence over admission to a university by making him resign so as to get Diet proceedings resumed for adopting the medical insurance bills.

Secretaries of the four opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, urgently met on July 12 and agreed on the need for Miyaji Kazuaki, senior vice H&WL minister, to appear as a witness before the House of Councilors Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee to establish facts. They stated that the scandalized the vice minister should reasonably resign from the post.

Miyaji is under suspicion that he instructed his secretary to give an examinee's ID number to the Teikyo University president before the examination day, at the request of his political funds donor. This was in January, not long after he took the vice minister's position.

The four opposition parties also agreed on foiling the medical reform bills which would make the people pay an additional 1.5 trillion yen (12.6 billion dollars) for medical fees. (end)