JAPAN: Prime Minister Naoto Kan under fire over political donations from a foreign national

Record ID: 464868

  • Title: JAPAN: Prime Minister Naoto Kan under fire over political donations from a foreign national
  • Date: 12th March 2011
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (RECENT - MARCH 6, 2011) (REUTERS) FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA AT RESIGNATION NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NOW FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA SAYING: "I would like to apologise to all for the enormous trouble I have caused them." MAEHARA BOWING AND LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAB6RCYCBHBYL18L5HM05BF59SA
  • Story Text: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan came under fire on Friday (March 11) for what he said was unknowingly accepting donations from a foreign national, in the same way former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara did before stepping down earlier this week.
    Kan, who has been quoted as saying he is not thinking about stepping down, was already facing calls to resign or call a snap election and has been struggling to pass bills to implement a $1 trillion budget for 2011-12 in parliament, where opposition parties are blocking the legislation and attacking the government over policy missteps.
    The Asahi newspaper reported earlier that donations from a Korean national living in Japan totalling over one million yen ($12,000) were received by Kan's political funds group in 2006 and 2009, including in November 2009 when Kan was serving as deputy premier after his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power for the first time.
    Some 600,000 ethnic Koreans live in Japan, many of whom are descended from those who came when the Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910-1945.
    Accepting donations from foreign nationals is illegal if done so knowingly.
    Asked what Kan would do after his foreign minister Seiji Maehara quit on Sunday (March 6) for having accepted political funding donations from a Korean national, Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano told a news conference:
    "Maehara took action based on his own decision. I have heard that the prime minister is absolutely not thinking about such a thing."
    If Kan did step down, becoming the fifth Japanese premier to exit after a year or less in office, it would create further uncertainty over the fate of bills needed to implement the budget and policies needed to curb public debt already twice the size of the $5 trillion economy.
    The departure of Seiji Maehara, who admitted taking political donations from a Korean national living in Japan, has added to the pressure on a prime minister whose popular support is languishing at around 20 percent.
    "I would like to apologise to all for the enormous trouble I have caused them," Maehara said in a news conference announcing his resignation.
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