Abe re-elected as Japan PM, eyes promoting constitutional debate

Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe was re-elected as Japan's prime minister Wednesday following his ruling bloc's overwhelming victory in the lower house election last month, pledging to maximize pressure on North Korea in cooperation with the international community.

Abe's inauguration and the re-appointment of all 19 members of his Cabinet, which was reshuffled in early August, comes just days before U.S President Trump arrives on a three-day visit to Japan, with talks between the Japanese and U.S. leaders expected to focus on Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threats.

"Dialogue for dialogue is meaningless. We have to maximize pressure to create a situation in which North Korea calls for dialogue," Abe told a press conference at his office after his fourth Cabinet was formally launched.

Abe, who has been Japan's leader for nearly five years, was re-elected earlier in the day by voting in both the upper and lower houses of the Diet on the first day of a special parliament session through Dec. 9.

Abe reiterated the Japanese government supports Trump's "all options are on the table" stance in dealing with North Korea.

"I want us to take sufficient time to analyze the latest information on North Korea, discuss in detail what we will do, and confirm that we will work in closer coordination toward the prompt resolution of the nuclear, missile and abduction issues," Abe said.

The 63-year-old prime minister has pledged to pull Japan out of its decades-long deflation with his "Abenomics" economic policy mix, while seeking to promote debate over a first-ever revision to Japan's Constitution.

Abe said the government will draw up a policy package totaling 2 trillion yen ($17.5 billion) by early next month to address Japan's low birthrate and aging population.

At the first meeting of the relaunched Cabinet, the premier ordered the compilation of a supplementary budget for fiscal 2017 centered on improving child care support, including building nursing facilities.

During election campaigning, Abe said he needed a fresh mandate for his administration's intention to spend some revenue from a planned consumption tax hike in October 2019 on child care and education.

Asked about a successor to Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, whose tenure expires next April, Abe only said "nothing has been decided."

The election outcome strengthened the prospects of Abe running in the LDP leadership contest next September and becoming Japan's longest-serving prime minister, after he returned to power in late 2012. At present, he is the third longest-serving Japanese leader in the postwar era.

As his long-cherished goal, Abe wants to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution. As part of its election platform, the LDP vowed to discuss changes including an explicit mention of the status of Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

On Wednesday, Abe expressed his willingness to work on building a consensus with opposition forces on constitutional reform, but reiterated his stance that "no time schedule has been set."

The SDF is currently governed by its own law and is not referred to in the supreme law, Article 9 of which requires Japan to renounce war and the maintenance of "war potential."

The LDP currently aims to submit its constitutional reform proposal to the ordinary Diet session to be convened in January in the hope that parliamentary debate on the issue commences in earnest.

The ruling coalition of the LDP and the Komeito party as well as forces supportive of amending the Constitution comprise the two-thirds majorities in both Diet chambers required to formally propose a revision, which must then be approved by a majority of voters in a national referendum.

Earlier in the day, the lower chamber re-elected Speaker Tadamori Oshima and picked as vice speaker Hirotaka Akamatsu, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party in the lower house.

Abe dissolved the House of Representatives in late September for the general election. He has already decided to retain the top LDP executives, including Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed that the special Diet session will run for 39 days, during which Abe is expected to deliver a policy speech and answer questions from party representatives.

The ruling parties are arranging to set the date of Abe's speech in the Diet on Nov. 17, a senior ruling party lawmaker said.