INTERVIEW: Former Rengo Head Koga Urges CDP, DPFP to Merge

Tokyo, Nov. 3 (Jiji Press)--The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, two opposition parties supported by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, should merge, former Rengo chief Nobuaki Koga has said.

Koga, 72, who was selected by the Japanese government Sunday to receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, headed the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country when the two parties' predecessor, the Democratic Party of Japan, held the reins of government.

"The fact that they are separated is nonsensical," Koga told a recent interview. "They should become one."

He also called on CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda to make concessions to DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki.

Koga's tenure as Rengo chief between 2009 and 2015 overlapped with the 2009-2012 DPJ-led administration. While the change in power from the Liberal Democratic Party was a strongly held wish for Rengo, Koga said that the now-defunct party was naive in government.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]