Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was forced to replace a third Cabinet minister in the space of a month, as scandals threatened to slow the agenda for a government facing a declining support rate.
Former Japanese minister of internal affairs Minoru Terada stepped down over the weekend due to allegations of political funding irregularities.
After apologizing to the public over the weekend, Kishida named former Japanese minister of foreign affairs Takeaki Matsumoto as Terada’s replacement yesterday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I am sincerely sorry for the fact that ministers have resigned one after another while parliament is in session,” Kishida told reporters on Sunday after returning from summits in Southeast Asia. “I take seriously my responsibility for having appointed them.”
Two of the ministers concerned hail from his own faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Kishida’s week dedicated to diplomacy, which included his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), has done little to distract from his domestic woes.
Inflation at its highest in decades and a scandal over LDP ties to the South Korea-based Unification Church have sent Kishida’s voter support to its lowest level since he took office last year. That could make it harder for him to control his party and push through key policy pledges, including an increase in defense spending.
An expert panel submitted proposals to the government yesterday on how to bolster Japan’s national security, with plans set to be finalized by the end of the year.
Kishida, who took office in October last year, is also seeking to pass a bill aimed at helping victims of the Unification Church, which has a long list of court rulings against it over its fundraising practices.
The church came under renewed scrutiny after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead in July. The gunman told police that he acted out of resentment over Abe’s ties to the group derisively called the “Moonies,” which he blamed for bankrupting his family by taking excessive donations from his mother.
A poll published yesterday by broadcast news network ANN put approval of Kishida’s Cabinet at 30.5 percent, down 2.6 percentage points on the previous month and the lowest for his administration so far. Disapproval rose 3.8 percentage points to 44.7 percent.
A separate poll published by the Mainichi Shimbun on Sunday found 43 percent of respondents wanted him to step down soon, while 31 percent wanted him to stay on as prime minister until his term as head of the LDP ends in September 2024.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
RISING RISK: With no communication between nations flying jets closely over the South China Sea, one mistake by a pilot could quickly escalate a situation, an expert said The China Coast Guard (CCG) maintained near-daily patrols at key features across the disputed South China Sea last year, ramping up its presence as tensions over the waterway with Southeast Asian neighbors remain high, new tracking data shows. Patrols in the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, an area known for its oil and gas reserves and the site of repeated standoffs between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels, more than doubled to 310 days last year, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said. The number of days Chinese ships patrolled near Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
‘DISTURBING’: Nearly half of 16 to 21-year-olds assumed that girls either ‘expect’ or ‘enjoy’ sex which involves physical aggression, such as airway restriction One in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old, according to “disturbing” new research by the children’s commissioner for England. The report found that one-quarter of pupils in their final year of primary school had already been exposed. It also showed much of the material being consumed by children and young people featured violence. Four out of five (79 percent) of those surveyed had seen pornography involving violence by the age of 18, while one in three young people have actively sought out depictions of sexual violence such as physical aggression, coercion and degradation. The report, by
RSS