Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida yesterday sought to brush off a magazine report that questioned election expenses from last year by saying that while some receipts his office submitted did not include complete information, the money had been spent appropriately.
Kishida also denied domestic media reports that he was thinking of reshuffling his Cabinet in the next few weeks.
Kishida’s support has tumbled to its lowest since he took office in October last year and he has been trying to repair damage after a series of scandals forced him to replace three ministers in the space of a month.
Photo: Reuters
Although he need not face another election for more than two years, sagging approval ratings make it more difficult for Kishida to control his party and push policy pledges through parliament, including an increase in defense spending.
On top of this, Kishida is also struggling to deal with the country’s highest inflation in decades.
“I’m aware of the media reports, but I’m not thinking of that at all,” Kishida said when asked about plans to reshuffle the Cabinet. “I must focus on parliament now.”
An online report by Bunshun magazine emerged this week about incomplete receipts relating to his campaign for the general election last year.
The prime minister said he would instruct his office to make sure such problems do not recur.
He said that he did not know the total amount involved, but believed that the items purchased included things such as food from a convenience store and stationery.
The money was spent appropriately, in accordance with a report to which the receipts were attached, he said.
Kishida, who came to office buoyed by a clean image, was battered by a scandal over his party’s links to the Unification Church, which has a long list of court rulings against it over its fundraising methods.
The religious group came under renewed scrutiny after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot in July by a man who cited a grudge over the former leader’s ties to the church.
The man blamed the group, whose members are known as “Moonies,” for bankrupting his family by taking excessive donations from his mother.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS