Japanese prime minister to quit due to ill health

Chronic medical condition has resurfaced, says longest-serving PM

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, says he is resigning because a chronic illness has resurfaced.

Concerns about his health began over the summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified check-ups.

He has acknowledged having ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment.

He said yesterday: “It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese people abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia. He said his health problem was under control until earlier this year but was found to have relapsed in June when he had an annual check-up.

Mr Abe, whose term ends in September next year, is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected.

In a country once known for its short-tenured premiers, his departure will mark the end of an unusual era of stability that saw him strike up strong ties with President Donald Trump even as Mr Abe’s ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China.

While he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, and he has failed to achieve his cherished goal to formally rewrite the Us-drafted pacifist constitution.

Mr Abe is a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, and sought to make Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and more focus on the non-political emperor.

He abruptly resigned from his first stint in office in 2007 due to his health, which had fuelled concerns about his recent condition.

On Monday he became Japan’s longest serving prime minister by consecutive days in office, eclipsing the record of Eisaku Sato, his great-uncle, who served 2,798 days from 1964 to 1972.

Shigeru Ishiba, a hawkish 63-year-old former defence minister and Mr Abe’s arch rival, is a favourite next leader in media surveys.

PM Shinzo Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager.