Prime minister resigns because of poor health
TOKYO — Japan’s longestserving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Friday he is stepping down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was “gut wrenching” to leave many of his goals unfinished.
Abe, 65, has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. Concerns about his health grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified checkups. He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee that it will cure his condition so he decided to step down after treatment Monday, he said.
“It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia and a revision of Japan’s warrenouncing constitution.
“Faced with the illness and treatment, as well as the pain of lacking physical strength … I decided I should not stay on as prime minister when I’m no longer capable of living up to the people’s expectations with confidence,” Abe said at a news conference.
In a country once known for its shorttenured prime ministers, the departure marks the end of an unusual era of stability that saw the Japanese leader build strong ties with U.S. President Trump even as Abe’s ultranationalism riled the Koreas and China. While he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered anew by the coronavirus pandemic, and Abe has failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the U.S.drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.
Although Abe left many of his political goals unfinished, he continued to bolster Japan’s defense capability to respond to its ally America’s needs.
Abe was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.
Abe became Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later because of his health.
In December 2012, Abe returned to power, prioritizing economic measures over his nationalist agenda. He won six national elections and built a rocksolid grip on power, bolstering Japan’s defense role and capability and its security alliance with the U.S.
There are a number of politicians eager to replace Abe. Shigeru Ishiba, a hawkish former defense minister and Abe’s archrival, is a favorite next leader in media surveys, though he is less popular within the governing party. A lowkey former foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, Defense Minister Taro Kono, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, and economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura are widely mentioned as potential successors.