Japan sets up NSC secretariat

TOKYO - The Japanese government launched the secretariat of its National Security Council (NSC) on Tuesday, with former Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi to work as the director.

The new body will include around 60 secretariat officials dispatched from government organizations, including foreign and defense ministries as well as the National Police Agency, to deal with major challenges by six teams.

As a main supporting body of the NSC's core conference, it would coordinate operations of each ministries and agencies, as well as analyzing information on the international circumstances and sharing it with foreign government organizations.

Yachi, 70, who is an adviser on diplomatic policies to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, served as the top working-level diplomat while Abe was in power between 2006 and 2007.

Another two officials - one from foreign ministry and the other from defense ministry - would serve as deputy head of the new organization.

Kyodo News cited government sources as saying that Yachi plans to visit Washington shortly to meet with US National Security Council officials on tightening bilateral cooperation.