Japan PM vows to tackle pensions mess ahead of poll

TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) Japan's prime minister pledged today to deal with chaos in the pensions system ahead of next month's upper house election, as a newspaper reported the government was set to probe charges of embezzlement by officials.

Public anger over botched bookkeeping -- which has left millions of premium payments unaccounted for -- means the once-popular Shinzo Abe heads into his first ballot box test with approval ratings at their weakest since he came to office in September.

''We have caused concern to many members of the public and as the head of the administration I bear the biggest responsibility for that. I must apologise,'' Abe said in a televised interview.

Only 33.5 per cent of respondents to a Kyodo news agency poll released today said they approved of Abe, down 2.3 percentage points on a similar poll three weeks ago. Nearly 58 per cent told Kyodo they did not support Abe.

Abe, who admitted on Friday he had known about problems in the pensions system since the end of last year, said the investigation process would be thorough.

''One thing we must do is check records properly for every single individual. The second is to guarantee and pay people's pensions,'' he added.

Bureaucrats would in future help concerned members of the public to look for records of missing premiums, he said, rather than demanding that they produce their own proof of the payments.

Tracing the money may be difficult in some cases.

More than 100 million yen ( 807,300 dollar) in pension money was lost to embezzlement between 1989 and 2002, according to a survey cited by the Nikkei financial daily today. Some government workers pocketed premiums rather than recording them, while others had funds paid into fictional pensioners' accounts, the report said.

The Social Insurance Agency now plans to launch a probe into possible further cases of corruption, the paper said, in the latest twist in a saga alarming an electorate already concerned about how the deeply indebted government will fund its ageing population.

PET PROJECTS SIDELINED Abe's actions do not go far enough, according to Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, who called on the same television programme for more disclosure and an acknowledgement that the government was solely responsible for the confusion.

The pensions row has overshadowed Abe's pet issues -- he built his support base largely on a hard line against North Korea, especially its abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

But Abe denied that Japan was being left out of the loop as the United States engaged with Pyongyang on disarming its nuclear weapons programme.

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill paid a surprise visit to North Korea last week, in what many saw as a concession by President George W Bush, who had previously insisted Pyongyang first shut down its main nuclear weapons facility.

''Not at all,'' Abe told the programme when asked if Japan was being excluded. ''On this occasion, Mr Hill informed Japan in advance. He also told North Korea that relations with Japan were important,'' he added.

Abe has tried to dilute focus on pensions ahead of the July 29 poll, by playing up his efforts to revise the constitution and create a ''beautiful country'' free of the shadow of World War Two.

But opposition leaders were sceptical of his chances of success and the Kyodo poll said nearly two thirds of respondents saw pensions as the priority in the election.

''He ignores the problems that affect the people and is enthusiastic about matters that don't interest them -- that is why his support rates are down,'' Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii told the programme.

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