Science Council To Urge Suga To Approve Nominees
The Science Council of Japan has decided to ask Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide to explain why he refused to appoint six people as new members of the leading academic body, and renew its request for their appointment.
The council is designated as a special organization under the jurisdiction of the prime minister, but makes policy proposals independently from the government.
The council submitted a list of 105 nominees to join the council from last Thursday, but Suga rejected six of them.
The council's executives met on Saturday and decided to ask Suga to both explain the reason for the refusal and promptly approve the rejected nominees' appointments.
The request will be posted on the council's website, and submitted to Suga via the government department in charge.
The council has been discussing the matter in a series of meetings that have been held since Thursday.
The council's president, Kajita Takaaki, who is a Nobel laureate and Distinguished Professor at the University of Tokyo, says the council cannot deal with the issue without knowing why the nominees were rejected.
He says the council intends to submit the request as soon as possible.
