Japan PM seeks to quell furore over pension mess

TOKYO, May 31 (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under fire after a cabinet minister killed himself, scrambled today to quell another furore over mismanaged pensions that has hurt his popularity ahead of a July election.

Abe's eight-month-old government suffered a heavy blow when Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who had been linked to several political funding scandals, committed suicide on Monday, just hours before he was to face questioning in parliament.

The suicide coincided with a slump in Abe's public support rates due largely to voter outrage over the mishandling of millions of pension records that could shortchange retirees.

Abe's ruling coalition wants to push through the lower house today a bill aimed at making it easier for retirees whose records were mixed up by officials to recover payments.

The government also wants the lower house to approve legislation to drastically reform the scandal-ridden Social Insurance Agency, which manages the pension system.

''I am keenly aware that there are a great many people who feel anxious over the problems surrounding the nation's pension records,'' Abe wrote in his weekly email magazine today.

''My cabinet will ensure that absolutely no one loses out on their pension payments,'' he said, adding that a 24/7 hotline would be set up so that people could consult about their pensions.

Opposition parties, charging the legislation was flawed and that responsibility for the mess should be clarified first, were threatening to submit a no-confidence motion against Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa to stall the bills' approval by the lower house.

Yanagisawa sparked public outrage earlier this year when he referred to women as 'birth-giving machines', one of a series of gaffes and missteps by Abe's appointees that has cast doubt on his leadership abilities and dented his popularity.

In the first of a series of largely symbolic moves, the opposition submitted a motion to remove the chairman of the lower house Steering Committee from his post. It was voted down.

Worries over the creaking pension system have proved an Achilles heel for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner in the past.

Voter anger after several cabinet ministers were found not to have paid into the national pension plan helped the Democrats outperform the LDP in an upper house election three years ago, although the ruling camp managed to keep its majority.

A defeat in the July upper house election would not automatically force Abe to resign, but would reduce his clout and likely prompt calls from within the LDP for him to be replaced.

REUTERS AGL DS1247