村上正邦氏死去、８８歳　元自民参院議員会長

　自民党参院議員会長、労相を務め、「参院のドン」と称された村上正邦（むらかみ・まさくに）氏が１０日午前４時半、埼玉県朝霞市内の病院で死去した。８８歳だった。福岡県出身。葬儀の日取りなどは未定。
　拓殖大卒。国会議員秘書を経て１９８０年、参院選旧全国区で初当選した。当選４回。９２年、宮沢改造内閣の労相として初入閣。その後、党参院幹事長、参院議員会長を歴任した。与野党逆転下の参院で野党幹部と気脈を通じ、国会対策に精通。実力者として君臨した。
　２０００年４月に小渕恵三首相が脳梗塞で倒れた際には、青木幹雄官房長官、森喜朗幹事長、野中広務幹事長代理、亀井静香政調会長と善後策を協議。密室で森首相誕生の流れをつくったとして「５人組」と呼ばれた。
　０１年２月、ケーエスデー中小企業経営者福祉事業団（ＫＳＤ）事件の責任を取って議員辞職、証人喚問も受けた。その後、東京地検特捜部に逮捕・起訴され、受託収賄罪で実刑判決が確定、服役した。（2020/09/10-11:42）

Former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Masakuni Murakami, who was known as a magnate in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, died at a hospital in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on Thursday. He was 88.
   A native of the southwestern prefecture Fukuoka, Murakami won a Diet seat for the first time in the 1980 Upper House election, after serving as a secretary to a lawmaker. He was elected to the chamber three more times.
   In 1992, Murakami joined the cabinet for the first time, becoming labor minister under the administration of then Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
   Later, Murakami served as secretary-general for the LDP in the Upper House and then as chairman of the party's general assembly in the chamber. Murakami was well versed in parliamentary affairs and became known for his remarkable presence in the Upper House.
   Murakami was a member of the "quintet" who maneuvered behind the scenes in April 2000 to have then LDP Secretary-General Yoshiro Mori become prime minister to replace Keizo Obuchi after the then prime minister collapsed due to stroke in the month. The other four in the group were Mori, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki, then LDP acting Secretary-General Hiromu Nonaka and then LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Shizuka Kamei.