Japan`s Mori to step down as PM in April

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori announced Saturday that he would resign in April, saying he would reschedule Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s president election, which were slated for September, to a date before July`s upper house polls. Mori made the announcement during a meeting with the top five officials of the LDP, including secretary general Makoto Koga.

Mori is expected to resign along with the entire cabinet early next month, when the 2002 budget bill and related legislation are passed through the upper house. The ruling LDP will select a new prime minister after the election of the LDP president at the middle of the month.

Expected to wage a fierce battle to succeed Mori are former LDP secretary general Hiromu Nonaka, former welfare minister Junichiro Koizumi and former former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

Mori has been under fire for continuing a golf game even after he heard the news that a trawler had been sunk by a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine last month. The accident claimed the lives of nine sailors.

He also has been pressed to resign by his opponents in the LDP and opposition parties for the deteriorating economy and the sharp fall in public support for his cabinet.

Shim Kyu-Sun ksshim@donga.com