Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he has forced his son to resign as his executive policy secretary after his son used the prime minister’s residence for a private party, prompting public outrage.
Key points:
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida says his son’s actions were inappropriate
Shotaro Kishida posed with other guests of the party on a staircase normally used to announce cabinet appointments
Shotaro Kishida has previously been reprimanded for using embassy cars for private sightseeing in the UK and France
Photos published by the weekly Shukan Bunshun news magazine showed Mr Kishida’s son, Shotaro, and other relatives posing on the residence’s red-carpeted stairs, imitating the group photos of newly appointed cabinets, at a year-end party on December 30.
Shotaro Kishida was standing in the centre — the position normally reserved for the prime minister.
Other photos showed guests lying on the stairs and standing at the residence’s podiums as if holding a news conference.
Shotaro, his father’s executive secretary for political affairs and eldest son, will be replaced with another secretary, Takayoshi Yamamoto, on Thursday.
“As secretary for [the prime minister’s] political affairs, a public position, his actions were inappropriate and I decided to replace him, to have him take responsibility,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Monday night.
The prime minister acknowledged he had briefly greeted the guests to his son’s party but he said he did not stay for the event.
He said he had since severely reprimanded his son for the party, but that failed to quell ongoing criticism from opposition politicians and significant public outrage, which has pushed down his polling ratings.
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