Japan’s beleaguered defence minister resigned on Friday over an alleged cover-up of military documents from UN peacekeeping operations, the latest blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s scandal-ridden government.
Tomomi Inada denied, however, that she herself took part in the alleged cover-up. Mr Abe said he accepted her resignation and assigned foreign minister Fumio Kishida to take on the defence portfolio for now.
The defence ministry was conducting an internal investigation following accusation that it concealed parts of a daily log of activities by Japanese UN peacekeepers in South Sudan that referred to dangers faced by the troops in Africa’s conflict zone.
Ms Inada informed about her resignation as she announced the investigation results, which she said showed “serious” mishandlings of documents in violation of the information disclosure law and suggesting to the public a lack of governance.
