Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday dumped conservatives and embraced critical voices in a Cabinet revamp he hopes will stem a decline in public support after a series of scandals and missteps.
Abe, in office since December 2012, has pushed a nationalist agenda alongside a massive policy effort to end years of on-off deflation and rejuvenate the world’s third-largest economy.
However, he has seen public support rates plummet in the past few months over an array of political troubles, including allegations of favoritism to a friend in a business deal, which Abe denies.
Photo: Bloomberg
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a drubbing in local Tokyo elections last month, which analysts and newspapers blamed on an increasing “arrogance” on the part of the prime minister and his government.
“I would like to express deep regret and apologize to the public” for creating mistrust due to various scandals, Abe said at a televised news conference, bowing for several seconds.
Abe, dressed in formal attire after attending a ceremony with his ministers at the Imperial Palace, said he carried out the Cabinet changes to restore public confidence in his government.
“We will listen to the voices of the people and pursue politics together with them,” Abe said.
He reappointed former Japanese minister of defense Itsunori Onodera after Tomomi Inada resigned from the post last week following a scandal at the ministry over the handling of documents.
Onodera, 57, held the post for nearly two years until September 2014, and has vowed to restore unity and confidence within the ministry.
His appointment came amid rising tensions surrounding North Korea’s missile development.
Pyongyang launched its latest missile late on Friday last week.
“It’s the government’s biggest responsibility to do our best to ensure the safety of the public against this serious and real threat,” Abe said.
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