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TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday in an apparent bid to distance his administration from the conservative Unification Church, whose ties to the assassinated leader Shinzo Abe and senior ruling party leadership caused a major drop in approval ratings.
The Cabinet renewal was the second in just 10 months since Kishida took office following the July election victory that had been expected to ensure long-term stability until 2025. But Abe’s shocking assassination on July 8 and its impact on politics increased uncertainty as public support for Kishida’s Cabinet plunged.
Kishida told reporters Tuesday that a “strict review” of candidates’ ties to the church would be a “prerequisite” in the new lineup of Cabinet officials and Liberal Democratic Party executives.
He said he had instructed his ministers and other senior officials to clarify their connection to the Unification Church “so that we can achieve political and administrative work that can be trusted by the people.” At a governing party meeting earlier Wednesday, he called on his fellow lawmakers to unite and tackle the challenges with a sense of urgency.
Read more: Why Shinzo Abe Will Continue to Govern Japan for Years After His Death
Abe was fatally shot while giving a campaign speech two days before a parliamentary election. Police and media reports say the man arrested had targeted Abe over suspected ties to the Unification Church, which the man hated because his mother’s massive financial donations to the church had ruined his family.
Kishida said the main purpose of the reshuffle was to “break through one of biggest postwar crises” such as the coronavirus pandemic, inflation, growing tensions between China and self-ruled Taiwan and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
A survey released…
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Source : time
