Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa announced yesterday that he would step down because of health problems after facing allegations he was drunk at a recent summit meeting, dealing a major blow to Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso’s already shaky government.
Aso yesterday picked economics minister Kaoru Yosano to replace Nakagawa, who appeared to be drunk at a G7 meeting.
Aso said he had accepted Nakagawa’s immediate resignation and had asked Yosano to take on the additional role.
“I would like to ask Minister Yosano to take the posts,” Aso said.
Nakagawa, who has denied being drunk, said he would stay on until parliament approves a supplementary budget, probably in April.
“I apologize for causing such a big fuss,” Nakagawa said. “I plan to submit a formal resignation as soon [as] the budget and related legislation are passed by the lower house.”
Nakagawa has been under fire over allegations he appeared to be drunk at a news conference following the G7 finance ministers meeting in Rome over the weekend. TV footage showed him slurring his speech and looking drowsy and confused.
Nakagawa has denied he was drunk, saying he had taken cold medicine, which, along with the jet lag, made him groggy.
His abrupt resignation announcement was seen as an attempt at damage control. Opposition lawmakers were already planning to submit a censure motion against him and demand he quit.
Aso had told reporters he had no plans to sack the minister, and urged Nakagawa to rest well and stay on. But pressure for Nakagawa’s resignation was growing within the Cabinet.
“The TV footage was shocking,” Japanese Consumer Minister Seiko Noda said. “A Cabinet minister must be fit and he needs more self-control.”
The scandal was the latest in a series of embarrassments that have plagued Aso, who has been in office only since late September.
Aso’s support ratings fell into the single digits in a recent poll and calls are growing for him to step down and call snap elections.
Opposition leaders said Nakagawa’s announcement did not affect their plans to submit the censure motion and also slammed Aso for choosing Nakagawa.
“I don’t understand why he has to wait until the budget approval,” said Higashi Koshiishi, a leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan. “And we will by all means question Prime Minister Aso’s responsibility over [Nakagawa’s] appointment.”
Plunging popularity and the Nakagawa scandal have increased speculation Aso’s days might be numbered.
Elections must be held by the end of September, but can be called at any time. Several polls suggest that the opposition has a good shot at winning if elections are held soon. The Liberal Democrats have controlled the government for virtually all of the past 54 years.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home