12 December 2002, 10:26  Koizumi positive about weak yen

TOKYO, Kyodo - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Wednesday he is tolerant of a weak yen against the U.S. dollar, but denied any intention to guide the yen lower. ''I understand (Finance) Minister (Masajuro) Shiokawa's view that a weak yen is preferable...(but) the government doesn't intend to take a stance of depreciating the yen,'' Koizumi said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC Asia Pacific, according to his spokeswoman Misako Kaji. Koizumi vowed to fight deflation and said that the government and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) should work together to fight deflation. Koizumi said a successor to BOJ Governor Masaru Hayami should be ''a man who has the will to overcome deflation,'' but that it is not appropriate now to mention specific names.
Hayami's five-year term of office expires next March. Asked if an inflation target would be set in the near future to help fight deflation, Koizumi reportedly said the government is trying to keep consumer price inflation above zero. He did not elaborate, Kaji said. On the diplomatic front, Koizumi said there will be no change in Japan's policy to keep exerting efforts to normalize ties with North Korea, according to the deputy press secretary. The premier reportedly pledged to work closely with the United States and South Korea to deal with various issues related to North Korea. The bilateral normalization talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang seem stuck, but Japan has found North Korea more flexible in recent talks compared with the past, Kaji quoted Koizumi as saying. The stance to solve various problems in line with the Sept. 17 Pyongyang Declaration has not been lost on the North Korean side, Koizumi said. In the declaration issued after their historic summit in Pyongyang, Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed to make efforts to normalize bilateral ties.
But Koizumi did not elaborate on how Japan plans to deal with the latest issues such as a planned reunion involving Japanese abductees' families and North Korea's nuclear weapons development program, as well as alleged weapons smuggling, Kaji said. //www.home.kyodo.co.jp

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