Japan Makes Defense Agency Full Ministry

TOKYO -- Japan's conservative government upgraded the Defense Agency to a full ministry on Tuesday for the first time since World War II as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to raise the military's profile.

The upgrading of the agency formerly under the Cabinet Office passed Parliament last month without significant opposition, propelled by deep concern in Japan over North Korean missile and nuclear weapons development.

At a formal ceremony Tuesday, Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma was named defense minister and then took the reins of a new ministry with greater budgetary powers and prestige. The enhancement is a reversal for a military establishment that has kept a low profile since being discredited by Japan's disastrous wartime defeat.

Abe and Kyuma marked the occasion by reviewing a Japanese honor guard on the parade grounds outside the new ministry. Also in attendance was Maj. Gen. Timothy Larsen, deputy commander for U.S. forces Japan.

"I'm truly proud today on this occasion as the prime minister to have produced a Defense Ministry," Abe said.

Some critics have argued that giving the military greater leeway violates the country's 1947 U.S.-drafted Constitution, which foreswears Japan from using force to settle international disputes. Tokyo maintains a military ostensibly for self-defense only and still hosts some 50,000 U.S. troops at bases around the country under a security alliance.

Addressing such concerns, Kyuma said the "the Defense Ministry needs to transform itself both in name and as a policy-making body so that it can meet the expectations and earn the trust of the people."

Under Abe's predecessor, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan became more active in international military operations by backing the U.S.-led war on terror with non-combat troops to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Abe has pledged to continue that drive to make Japan a more important world player.