Ishiba Orders Early Cyber Defense Bill Proposal

Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba instructed Thursday cybersecurity minister Masaaki Taira to introduce a bill for active cyber defense at an early date.

Ishiba asked him to work out the bill for its earliest possible submission to parliament, Taira told reporters at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.

Taira also said he will "accelerate a government expert panel's discussions to sort out issues involved to receive final proposals" following its interim report in August.

The government plans to introduce the cyber defense legislation after an extraordinary parliamentary session expected to start later this year.

Earlier in the day, Ishiba also met with Itsunori Onodera, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Onodera was accompanied by the LDP's Minoru Kihara and Takayuki Kobayashi, both in charge of security policies.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]