Koizumi favors constitutional reform

A new Japanese cabinet led by Junichiro Koizumi, 59, will take office Thursday. After winning the Liberal Democratic Party`s presidential election Tuesday he is to be named prime minister in ballots by both houses of the Diet Thursday, and he then will appoint his cabinet members.

The newly elected leader of Japan`s ruling party told the press Tuesday that he favored adapting the Constitution, under which national defense forces are not regarded as an army, so that an anomalous situation be corrected in the future.

He said conditions need to be created in which members of the defense forces could lay down their lives to defend the nation with pride in time of emergency.

Shim Kyu-Sun ksshim@donga.com