Society

Japan science body asks PM Suga to retract member appointment rejection

Oct 04 (Kyodo) - Japan's science council which makes policy recommendations to the government sent a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday asking him to explain his recent refusal to appoint some of the body's nominees as new members.

Since 2004, prime ministers have been naming members of the Science Council of Japan, an organization under the jurisdiction of the premier but operated independently from the state, as recommended by the council which replaces half of its members every three years.

Under the current system of member appointments adopted in 2004, no candidates have been rejected.

Of 105 academics nominated by the council, Suga refused to appoint six people critical of the country's security and anti-conspiracy legislation.

The council, led by Takaaki Kajita, a 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Physics who assumed the body's top post just Thursday, also called in the letter for Suga to swiftly revise his decision and appoint the remaining six nominees.

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