Abe Apologizes for Scandals as Opposition Back in Talks

May 9, 2018

Tokyo- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his apology for a spate of recent government-related scandals on Tuesday, as major opposition parties returned to the proceedings of the Diet, Japan's parliament, following their 18-day boycott over the cronyism, document and sexual harassment scandals.

Abe offered the apology at a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives, the Diet's lower chamber, over the scandals including the government's alleged cronyism for private school operators and a suspected Self-Defense Forces document cover-up.

"As the head of the government and the chief commander of the SDF, I feel deeply responsible for the current situation in which public trust in the administration is being shaken," Abe said.

"I'm resolved to fulfill my duties as prime minister to restore public trust," he said.

Abe made the remarks in response to questions from Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akira Kasai, who argued that each of the scandals is linked to the prime minister himself.

The opposition camp is poised to continue to grill the Abe administration over the scandals, including the cronyism scandal involving school operator Kake Educational Institution, headed by a personal friend of the prime minister.

"We want the administration to make sincere efforts to unravel the truth behind the scandals," Kenta Izumi, Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party for the People, said earlier on Tuesday.

On Monday, the opposition camp agreed to end its boycott, after reaching a deal with the ruling coalition to hold a parliamentary hearing with Tadao Yanase, former executive secretary to Abe and currently vice minister for international affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, about the Kake scandal on Thursday.

The two sides also agreed that the budget committees of both Diet chambers will hold intensive deliberations attended by the prime minister next Monday.

The government and the ruling bloc are now eager to spur Diet deliberations on key bills including work-style reform legislation, ahead of the June 20 end of the current session.

"We'll proceed with full attention as we can't waste a single day," Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told a party executive meeting earlier on Tuesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, speaking at a press conference the same day, reiterated the government's resolve to get the work-style reform legislation enacted during the ongoing session.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, a new party launched only on Monday through the merger of two opposition groups, separately submitted their own labor reform bills.

Both opposition bills exclude a government-proposed system to exempt highly skilled specialists, such as researchers and consultants, from overtime regulations. Jiji Press