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No.258 SIM音読用英文

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Search Begins for New Japanese PM
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Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party cannot seem to keep prime
ministers in power

for more than 12 months.



Yasuo Fukuda, who has been dogged by low approval ratings,
suddenly announced Monday

he would resign from his position.


His predecessor, Shinzo Abe, also stepped down as prime minister

before reaching the one year mark last year.


The LDP already is beginning the hunt for a new party chief,

who would become prime minister.


A new party president will be elected later this month.


The party's general secretary, Taro Aso, on Tuesday said

he was qualified for the job,

although he has not directly said

he would be a candidate

in the internal election.


Timothy Savage is deputy director of the Nautilus Institute,

a regional policy research group, in Seoul.


He says the LDP is struggling

to find a leader

who can stay in office.


With the opposition party in charge of the upper house of Parliament,

Savage says the LDP will most likely have to call a general election

in the next few months.


Should Aso become prime minister,

Savage says Japan's relations with its neighbors will be rattled.


"I think actually the biggest problem could be with North Korea,

where there was recently some progress

on the abduction issue under Fukuda."


In August, Tokyo and Pyongyang agreed to re-open an investigation

into the kidnapping

of at least 13 Japanese civilians

in the 1970s and '80s.


The LDP has dominated Japanese politics

since the mid-1950s -

leading the government for all but about a year since then.


The party now governs

as part of a coalition.


However, it lost popularity over the last 15 years

as Japan's economy has faltered.


Jason Strother, VOA News, Seoul
by danueno | 2008-09-10 14:41 | SIM音読用英文


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