Noda got donations of foreign cash

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda received a total of about 160,000 yen in political donations from a South Korean resident in Japan from 2001 to 2003, it was learned Saturday.

The Political Funds Control Law bans political donations by foreign nationals, but the three-year statute of limitations has run out on the donations to Noda.

According to a political funding report, Noda's political funds-management organization--Mirai Kurabu--received 158,000 yen from a man who operates a real estate business in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.

The man acknowledged during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun he was a South Korean resident in Japan and made donations to Noda.

He said he has been serving as an executive of a chapter of the Korean Residents Union in Japan since before he made the donations.

"Mr. Noda should've known I was a foreign national," he said. "But maybe he didn't notice I made the donations." The man made the donations under a Japanese name.

On Saturday morning, Noda refused to comment when reporters asked him about the matter.

"After carefully examining the political funding report, Mr. Noda's Tokyo office will make a comment on this matter," said an official of Noda's office in Funabashi, his constituency.

Seiji Maehara, now DPJ Policy Research Committee chairman, resigned as foreign minister in March after it was revealed he had received political donations from a South Korean resident in Japan.

It was also found in March that former Prime Minister Naoto Kan had received donations from a man believed to be a South Korean resident in Japan.