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Japan’s national police chief said he would resign and take responsibility for the shooting last month of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a campaign speech.
National Police Minister Itaru Nakamura’s statement came as his agency released a report on Abe’s failure to save Abe’s life when he was assassinated in Nara, western Japan, on July 8.
The report found flaws in Abe’s police protection, with attackers allegedly being able to shoot him in the back.
Mr Nakamura said he took the death of the former prime minister seriously and submitted his resignation to the National Public Safety Committee earlier on Thursday.
“In order to fundamentally revisit the defense and never let that happen, we need a new system,” Mr Nakamura told a news conference as he announced his intention to step down.
Mr. Nakamura did not disclose the date of his official resignation. Japanese media reported that his resignation was expected to be approved at a cabinet meeting on Friday.
The alleged gunman, Yamashin Tetsu, was also arrested at the scene and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation until late November.
Sanshin told police he targeted Abe because of the former leader’s ties to the Unification Church, which he hated.
Abe last year sent a video message to a church-affiliated group that experts say may have angered the suspect in the shooting.
On Thursday, Abe’s family held a private Buddhist ceremony to honor him on the 49th day of his assassination.
In Nara, prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka also expressed his intention to step down over Abe’s assassination.
Founded in South Korea in 1954, the church came to Japan a decade later, forging close ties with a number of conservative lawmakers, many of whom are members of the Liberal Democratic Party led by Shinzo Abe because of their shared anti-communist interests.
The church has faced accusations of recruitment and religious sales in Japan since the 1980s, and the ruling party’s ties to the church have seen support in Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet plummet after the recent reshuffle.
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