Aug 03 (NHK) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled the Liberal Democratic Party leadership on Thursday. He is set to appoint his new Cabinet later in the day.
Abe retained Toshihiro Nikai as LDP Secretary General.
Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Wataru Takeshita has been named General Council Chairman.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida took the post of Policy Research Council Chairman. Kishida has shown a willingness to succeed Abe as prime minister.
Former education minister Ryu Shionoya has been appointed Election Strategy Committee Chairman.
Masahiko Komura stays on as party Vice President.
As for cabinet ministers, Abe picked former National Public Safety Commission Chairperson Taro Kono as Foreign Minister. Kono called on the Defense Ministry to search again for its activity logs on Japanese UN peacekeepers in South Sudan after the ministry said it had already discarded the records.
Itsunori Onodera, acting Chairman of the party's Policy Research Council, is expected to serve as Defense Minister once again. The Defense Ministry has been mired in the alleged cover-up of the reports on South Sudan.
Former agriculture minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is expected to head the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
Hayashi will have the task of restoring trust in the ministry, which is involved in an alleged influence-peddling scandal. It was also under fire for arranging illegal private-sector employment for retiring ministry officials.
Abe tapped former General Council Chairwoman of the party Seiko Noda as Internal Affairs and Communications Minister. Noda had been distancing herself from Abe. She had planned to challenge Abe in the LDP presidential election in 2015 even though she did not run in the race.
State Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ken Saito is expected to be promoted to the ministry's top post.
Source: ANNnewsCH
