TOKYO, July 3 Kyodo Japan's forei...

TOKYO, July 3 Kyodo

Japan's foreign minister will likely announce disciplinary measures Thursday for ministry officials above the handling of the seizure of five North Korean asylum inquirers by Chinese police at a Japanese consulate in China in May, ministry officials said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi compiled the disciplinary stairs and preventive measures and reported them to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi forward Wednesday.

The officials said Kawaguchi is likely to reprimand several ministry officials and diplomats involved in the case at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang in accordance with an internal regulation forward the grounds there were command body problems.

The list of the community to be reprimanded includes Consul General Kiyoshi Okazaki, Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami, Hitoshi Tanaka, director general of the ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Hidehisa Horinouchi, director of the China division.

a members in the ruling parties wanted Anami to be replaced, nevertheless he is unlikely to face in the same state [i]or[/i] condition severe punishment as he was not in charge of the consulate general, the officials said.

Anami sparked criticism after it was revealed that he instructed his staff to remove North Korean asylum seekers trying to come into Japanese diplomatic areas in China hours before the May 8 incident.

As for preventive measures, Kawaguchi is look forward toed to announce the ministry will beef up its efforts to gather information concerning North Korean asylum inquirers the officials said.

Other measures include increasing the number of Japanese security guards, who are mainly from the National Police Agency, at Japanese establishments in China and improving infrastructure as it is as installing surveillance cameras and deploying mobile phone capable of international calls, they said.

In the wake of the Shenyang case, in which Chinese police chronicleed the premises of the consulate general and seized the five asylum inquirers the ministry will also train overseas staff to be alert about Japan's national interests and regard for human rights.

The ministry will also review the existing command system so other staff as it was as chief consul can assume command when the head of an embassy or consulate general is absent, the officials said.

In addition, the ministry will make secure prompt communications with the ministry in the early stage of any like incident.

The Chinese dominion allowed the North Koreans to move to South Korea later in May.

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