Mori Would Have Been Better Off Saying Less

By Tim Larimer/Tokyo

American voters disheartened by their choice should consider the poor Japanese, who have suffered through 14 sad-sack Prime Ministers since 1988. And before George W. or Al is sworn in, they may get No. 15. That's because the current leader, the tin-tongued YOSHIRO MORI, has bumbled big time into the high-stakes diplomatic drama on the Korean peninsula.

Japan has its issues with North Korea, not least of which is the fate of 10 Japanese who went missing more than 20 years ago. Tokyo insists they were abducted by Pyongyang's spies. Mori recently let slip that on a 1997 trip to the North Korean capital, a delegation of pols he led suggested a way out of the diplomatic brier patch: Let Japan "discover" its people in a third country, say, Thailand, allowing North Korea to sidestep blame. The idea has some appeal, but only while secret. "If negotiations reach a deadlock in the future, North Korea might have thought about considering this plan," says Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter disappeared, at age 13, in 1977. "Now that would be difficult."

Opponents quickly used the gaffe to further erode Mori's popularity. Not that they want to replace him. Then they'd have to deal with the ballooning debt, a huge budget deficit and a tanking stock market.

--By Tim Larimer/Tokyo