Defense Minister Yuriko Koike's proposal to appoint former National Police Agency officer Tetsuya Nishikawa as her deputy was rejected Aug. 13 by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki despite her veiled threat to resign if the proposal was not accepted, government sources said.

The closely watched appointment of a successor to Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya is not expected to be made until after the Cabinet reshuffle, which is likely to take place Aug. 27, the sources said.

Moriya began serving his fifth year in the post this month, an unusually long term for a top bureaucrat in the ministry, which was upgraded from an agency in January.