Ichikawa Likely to Head Japan’s National Security Secretariat

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering appointing former Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Keiichi Ichikawa as secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat to replace Masataka Okano, informed sources said Tuesday. The proposed replacement would come only nine months after Okano assumed the post in January, an unusually short tenure for a chief of the National Security Secretariat, the government’s key coordinator for the country’s foreign and security policy. Takaichi, elected to lead the country on Tuesday, aims to tackle several security issues, including revising the National Security Strategy and two other key security documents ahead of schedule, scrapping rules that limit the scope of transferable defense equipment for noncombat purposes and establishing an anti-espionage law. Ichikawa joined the Foreign Ministry in 1989 and took up such posts as director-general of the North American Affairs Bureau and director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau. After serving as assistant chief cabinet secretary in charge of diplomacy under former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Ichikawa stepped down in July and was named ambassador to Indonesia earlier this month. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]