Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Wednesday a government reshuffle, including a new defense minister, at a time when the executive faces controversies over the political connections of a religious group.
Shinzo Abe was killed on July 8 by a man who, according to police, confessed to killing the former prime minister due to rumors associating him with the Unification Church.
Last week, Kishida announced that he would ask all ministers to clarify possible links with this religious group, also known as the “moon sect”.
EITHER The prime minister decided to change 14 of the 19 main positions of his executiveincluding the replacement of Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Shinzo Abe’s brother, officially for health reasons.
Kishi revealed that members of the Unification Church had volunteered in his election campaigns.
His successor is Yasukazu Hamada, 66, who held the post from 2008-2009, and will now have to deal with tensions over Taiwan, the nuclear threat from North Korea, the impact of the war in Ukraine and calls of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, currently in power), for doubling the defense budget to 2% of Japan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Taro Kono, a former defense and foreign minister, is also returning to government for the Ministry of Digital Affairs, after losing the LDP leadership race to Fumio Kishida in September.
Katsunobu Kato, who previously headed the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs, returns to the post for the third time.
Sanae Takaichi, a close collaborator of Shinzo Abe, known for her ultra-nationalist positions, was appointed as the guardian of Economic Security.
Takaichi and Keiko Nagaoka, the new Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, are the only two women in Kisihida’s new government, one less than when the term began.
japanese prime minister also named former head of economic revitalization and pandemic responseYasutoshi Nishimura, as the new Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The LDP won a landslide victory in the Japanese Senate vote in July, giving Fumio Kishida a three-year term without major elections.
However, the prime minister has seen his popularity drop, according to several recent polls, due to rising inflation, a new wave of Covid-19 infections, rising military tensions in the region and controversy surrounding the Church of the Unification.
Source: Observadora
