Kan refuses to step down over donations

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday he would not resign after accusations that he had received illegal political donations from a South Korean resident in Japan who runs a pachinko parlor firm.

Kan admitted that his fund management group had accepted donations from the 58-year-old man in Yokohama, but said: "I had no idea that person was a foreign national."

The group's fund reports showed the man contributed a total of 1.04 million yen ($12,600) in his Japanese name in 2006 and 2009. His relatives and other sources say he has South Korean nationality.

After the Asahi Shimbun broke the story on Friday morning, Kan told an Upper House Audit Committee session that he would return all the money "if it is confirmed that he is of foreign nationality."

The suspicions emerged only days after Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara stepped down after admitting that he received 250,000 yen over five years from a long-time acquaintance who is a South Korean resident of Japan.

Maehara said he knew the woman was a foreign national but that he was not aware of her contributions.

The Political Fund Control Law bans donations from foreign nationals to prevent foreign influence in Japanese politics or elections. A violation can be punished with a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Kan's political career has been partly built on his reputation as a clean politician. A high-ranking government official said the issue "could hurt him by degrees like a body blow"

The Asahi Shimbun has found that the man in Yokohama donated 1 million yen to Kan's group in 2006 and a total of 40,000 yen in three installments in 2009.

Kan was acting president of the DPJ at the time. The last donation of 10,000 yen was made after the DPJ took power and Kan became deputy prime minister.

The man formerly served as a director for the former Yokohama Shogin Shinyo Kumiai bank, which now is Chuo Syogin Shinyo Kumiai. He did not respond to an Asahi Shimbun inquiry via a company he now runs in Tokyo. The firm operates pachinko parlors.

Ministers of Kan's Cabinet and the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan said the issue was not an issue that required the prime minister's resignation.

"Accepting donations without knowing that the contributor is a foreign national could happen to anyone," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

"Maehara's decision was his own. The prime minister has no such intention (to resign)," he said.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said: "There should be no legal problem because this was not done intentionally. Kan thought the man was Japanese."

DPJ's Diet affairs chief, Jun Azumi, said Kan should have been more careful but said he was not concerned because there had been no intent on Kan's part.

DPJ lawmakers close to Ichiro Ozawa, a key powerbroker within the DPJ who has been engaged in a power struggle with Kan in recent months, were split.

While some said Kan should not remain in his post, a close aide to Ozawa said he should not step down over the issue because it would only trigger "futile political strife."

Tadamori Oshima, vice president of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, called on Kan to voluntarily step down.

"The prime minister must clarify all the facts and decide what to do with himself," Oshima said.

LDP Upper House lawmaker Shoji Nishida, who first raised questions over Maehara's illegal donations, said Kan should have known the man was not Japanese.

"It is impossible for him to accept a donation of 1 million yen from a director of the Yokohama Shogin, who operates pachinko parlors, and to say 'I don't know who he is'," Nishida said.

New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said Kan's political morality was "lax." He said Kan "should take responsibility as prime minister."

Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe said the opposition should consider presenting a censure motion earlier than planned.