New Japanese Leader Tries to Reassure U.S. : Asia: Socialist premier vows ‘no change at all’ in foreign policy. He acknowledges world’s uneasiness.

Tomiichi Murayama, Japan’s first Socialist prime minister in 47 years, declared Friday that he will make “no change at all” in Japan’s foreign policy and will continue to treat U.S.-Tokyo relations as the “axis” of Japanese diplomacy.

In his first news conference since Parliament elected him Wednesday to head a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party and New Party Harbinger, Murayama acknowledged that his selection and the “unstable political conditions in Japan” have created “uneasiness” at home and around the world.

He said he will try to create a long-lived government that foreigners and Japanese would view as stable.

And he appealed to Japanese to drop their view of the Socialists as a radical party. Socialists, he noted, had already abandoned advocacy of socialism in their party platform and policies.

Pragmatism, not polemics, will be his operating formula, Murayama indicated.

At one point, he even declared that “just because we (Socialists) opposed bills when they were submitted in the past doesn’t mean we oppose them now that they are law.”

He also predicted that nearly four decades of bitter confrontation with the conservative Liberal Democrats will end.

In separate telephone conversations, Murayama offered assurances of continuity in diplomacy to President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young Sam.

To Clinton, he added that he will continue to regard relations with the United States as the “axis” of Japanese diplomacy and will maintain the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, despite his party’s long--albeit dormant--advocacy of abolishing the accord and removing U.S. bases from Japan.

He said he will discuss continuing negotiations on a framework for U.S.-Japan trade when he meets Clinton and attends the seven-nation economic summit next week in Naples, Italy.

Murayama promised to continue consultations with Washington and Seoul on North Korea and its nuclear program. But he added that “there is no change at all in our insistence that the North Korean nuclear problem must, to the end, be settled through dialogue.”

In a policy agreement worked out with its coalition partners, Murayama’s Socialists declared that Japan will cooperate with “the gist” of any U.N. sanctions that might be imposed if North Korea again balks on inspections of its nuclear facilities. The former coalition headed by Hata had offered an outright promise to implement any U.N. sanctions.

The 70-year-old leader, the hair from his massive, graying eyebrows dangling over his eyes, appeared relaxed and confident as he fielded questions.

But he acknowledged that he is coming into office with “a very low ratio of support.”

In a TV-Asahi opinion poll, two-thirds of respondents said they were “surprised” or “appalled” that a Socialist became prime minister.

A majority said the new Cabinet was formed “just by putting numbers together” to form a majority and said they expected a policy fallout among coalition partners to occur “sooner or later.” Most expected the Cabinet to last “about six months.”

If they had had the opportunity, 57.9% of the respondents said they would have voted for former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu in Wednesday’s lower house election for prime minister. Only 21.7% said they would have picked Murayama, and only 35.5% said they support his Cabinet.

A Yomiuri newspaper poll published today put support for the Murayama Cabinet at 39%.

Murayama urged Japanese to drop preconceptions that his Cabinet is lukewarm on political reform.

He promised to enact by “early autumn” a redistricting bill to implement single-seat election districts in the lower house--replacing constituencies from which an average of four representatives have been chosen. No election will be held before then, he added.

He also called for passage of a bill to strengthen penalties against bribery.

Despite his party’s fierce opposition to Japan dispatching troops overseas to participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations, Murayama said he supports active participation in such missions--as long as the use of force is not involved.