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TOKYO, Nov. 20 (AP) – Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fired his internal affairs minister on Sunday over funding irregularities, Japan’s NHK television said, in a blow to his scandal-plagued cabinet that has been out of control for a month. Already lost two ministers.
Internal affairs minister Minoru Terada has come under fire for several accounting and funding irregularities. In one, he admitted that one of his support groups submitted accounting records bearing the deceased’s signature.
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NHK reported that Kishida summoned Terada to his office late Sunday and made him hand in his resignation.
Kishida did not defend Terada when asked last week about his possible firing, saying only that he would make his own decision.
Terada said he did not break any laws, promised to fix the accounting issues and showed determination to stay on. Opposition lawmakers said the funding problems of the interior minister, who oversees political funding, were serious and called for his resignation.
Recent media surveys also showed that most respondents supported Terada’s resignation.
His firing is a further blow to Kishida’s cabinet, already shaken by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s close ties to the Unification Church, which has been accused of having problems recruiting and brainwashing followers into making huge donations, often leading them to broken family.
Economic Revitalization Minister Daishi Yamashiro resigned on October 24 after being criticized for failing to explain his relationship with the Unification Church, starting the “resignation dominoes” of the Kishida cabinet.
Terada’s departure comes just 10 days after Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi was forced to resign because his remarks were low-key and only made news when he signed the death penalty.
Kishida’s delay in deciding to fire the justice minister had to postpone a trip to three Asia summits scheduled for Nov. 11, prompting criticism from opposition lawmakers and political observers that he was indecisive and lacked leadership.
Kishida, who returned to Tokyo on Saturday after a nine-day trip, is apparently under pressure from top executives of his ruling party to make a quick decision on Terada before resuming discussions on key legislation on Monday.
The Kishida ruling party needs to pass the second supplementary budget in March during the current session of the National Assembly, and also needs to complete the new national security strategy and medium- and long-term defense guidelines before the end of the year. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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