Prime minister announces resignation due to ill health

JAPAN’S longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said yesterday he intends to step down because of a chronic health problem.

Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager.

Concerns about his health grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. He is on new treatment requiring IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee it will cure his condition and so he decided to step down after treatment on Monday, he said.

“It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia.

Abe became Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52. He is a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi.

Abe’s term ends in September next year.

He is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected and approved by the parliament.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe