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Senior Ruling Party Official Wants Japanese PM to Quit
A top official of Japan's New Komeito party, a key coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said Wednesday that he wants Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to step down as premier, Kyodo News reported.
Referring to the swelling chorus of calls for Mori to quit, the official, who asked not to be named, said the New Komeito expects Mori to make a voluntary decision on this issue.
"We should watch the political situation, rather than dampening or boosting the current" for a change of leadership, the official said.
Saying that he is wondering whether Mori himself is fed up with the post, the official also noted, "There is no one who can succeed Mori if he quits."
The statement on Mori's step-down by the ruling coalition partner will deal a heavy blow to Mori, who has drawn barrages of criticism over his gaffes and a series of political scandals involving the LDP.
Mori has been criticized anew for his handling of the collision last Friday between a Japanese ship and a U.S. submarine off Hawaii, as he continued to play golf after being notified of the accident on Saturday.
On Sunday, New Komeito party leader Takenori Kanzaki criticized Mori for continuing to play golf after learning of the sinking of the Japanese fisheries training vessel which left nine Japanese missing.
"I don't know how the prime minister first heard of it, but I think he should stop playing golf immediately and returned to his office," Kanzaki said on a Fuji Television Network program.
On Wednesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda also rapped Mori's handling of the accident.
"Personally, I think he should not have been playing golf," the top government spokesman told a press conference.
The Japanese training ship, Ehime Maru, with 35 people aboard, sank after the collision with U.S. nuclear submarine Greenville. Four of the missing Japanese are 17-year-old high school students.
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