Japan's upper house, controlled by the opposition bloc, approved a censure motion against Prime Minister Taro Aso, further embarrassing the embattled leader ahead of the general election scheduled on Aug. 30.

The censure motion, which has little binding force, was voted 132 in favor to 106 against in the upper house.

With the motion, the opposition bloc will stop taking part in Diet proceedings, including deliberation on the bill to enable inspections of cargo on Pyongyang.

However, the ruling parties still got the cargo bill passed at the lower house in a plenary session later Tuesday, even though the bill will have only to be abandoned as there will be no deliberations scheduled at the upper house.

Commenting on the issue, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a press conference, "This was an issue that must have been promoted from the internationally cooperative standpoint. I found it extremely regrettable that the opposition bloc put priority on the (domestic) political situation."

Aso is the second Japanese prime minister hit by the censure motion after his predecessor Yasuo Fukuda. Fukuda resigned three months after the motion was endorsed.

Earlier in the afternoon, the more powerful lower house, which is controlled by the ruling parties, easily voted down a no- confidence motion against Aso's Cabinet.

The no-confidence motion was voted down 333 to 139, but the purpose of the opposition parties was to criticize the policies of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito.

Despite mounting pressure after LDP's loss at the Tokyo assembly election, Aso reiterated Tuesday morning he is determined to fight on and would not resign ahead of the general election.

On Tuesday, two LDP heavyweights expressed their intention to resign to take the blame for consecutive defeats in Tokyo and other recent local elections.

Aso and senior officials of the ruling coalition parties agreed Monday to dissolve the House of Representatives next Tuesday at the earliest and hold a general election on Aug. 30.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2009)