[Figure in the News] Stepping Down: Japan's 100th Prime Minister Kishida Fumio

Fumio Kishida (67), the Prime Minister of Japan, will step down from his position next month. Unlike his predecessor Shinzo Abe, who served as prime minister for over eight years through multiple re-elections, Kishida will retire after just three years.

Prime Minister Kishida is expected to hand over his position to the newly elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at the end of this month. In Japan's parliamentary system, the leader of the majority party becomes the prime minister. Currently, the LDP is the ruling party.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Graduating from Waseda University’s Faculty of Law in 1982, Prime Minister Kishida comes from a political family that has served as members of the National Diet for three generations. Kishida entered politics in 1987 as a secretary to his father, Fumitake Kishida, a member of the House of Representatives. After his father passed away, he inherited the Hiroshima 1st district constituency and entered the Diet. He has held positions such as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense. In 2001, he was appointed Vice Minister (Deputy Minister) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under the Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet. In Shinzo Abe’s first cabinet in 2007, he served as Minister of State for Special Missions. He later held roles such as Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs and Minister in charge of Space Development. In 2015, Kishida led the Japan-South Korea agreement on the comfort women issue. His position within the party was solid. When former Prime Minister Abe suddenly resigned due to illness, Kishida ran for the party presidency and won.

The background for Prime Minister Kishida’s decision not to seek re-election includes political funding scandals involving LDP members. At the end of last year, politicians from the Abe faction within the LDP were involved in political funding scandals. Since then, the Kishida Cabinet’s approval ratings have remained in the 10-20% range. Kishida faced pressure to resign both inside and outside the party. Ultimately, it appears he chose to step down.

In the upcoming LDP presidential election, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has declared his candidacy. Other expected candidates include Digital Minister Taro Kono, Minister in charge of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi, Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kishida will visit South Korea on June 6-7 to hold a summit meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol.