TOKYO, Oct 15: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and one of his aides in the ruling conservative party came under fire on Friday over remarks they made supporting US President George W. Bush's re-election bid.

Hours after Mr Koizumi was criticized by the main opposition party for saying he wished Bush would "carry on," Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Tsutomu Takebe echoed similar sentiments.

Slamming Democratic candidate John Kerry over his Korea policy, Takebe told a radio news and entertainment show, "It would mean trouble if it is not President Bush." "Mr Kerry is trying to handle the North Korean problem bilaterally but that is outrageous," he said, according to press reports.

The Bush administration has been trying to stop North Korea's nuclear arms drive with multilateral pressure through six-nations talks also involving China, Japan, North and South Korea, and Russia.

Takebe was hand-picked by Koizumi for the LDP's number-two job in a reshuffle of cabinet and party posts three weeks ago. Koizumi told reporters late Thursday that he did not want to interfere with another country's election but "because I have been close to President Bush, I want him to carry on."

Koizumi has been supporting Bush's policy on Iraq despite widespread opposition at home and abroad, and the comment has angered the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

"To support a certain candidate in another country amounts to interfering with the country's internal affairs," said Yoshio Hachiro, parliamentary affairs chief at the opposition party.

"This is wrong from democratic, diplomatic and international points of view," he told a news conference. Takebe also took flak from within his own party. Toranusuke Katayama, a senior LDP member opposed to the premier's plan to privatise the nation's postal system, said Takebe should have made it clear that he was merely expressing a "personal view."

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda defended Koizumi's remarks. "This was not about election support, it was just sending out a cheer to say 'keep going' to President Bush, whom he (Koizumi) has met so many times and with whom he has built a friendly relationship," Hosoda told reporters Friday. "Whatever the result of the election, there will be absolutely no change in strong Japan-US ties," he said. -AFP