hankyoreh

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has suddenly announced his resignation. It is a "dishonorable resignation," in that he steps down without having completed a full year in office. "The situation is such that it would be hard to win the people's support," he told a press conference. "It would be a dilemma to continue running the government." He had been resisting calls for him to resign that came after his party's crushing defeat in July's House of Councilors (the Diet's upper house) elections, but he has essentially admitted that it would be hard to hold on any longer in the face of the people's decision.

His resignation reveals the limits of the political power and policies of post-war Japanese politicians, which he had come to symbolize. When he formed his cabinet in September of last year, and when he shuffled his cabinet late last month, he chose individuals who share his ideology and view of history. He hired so many of his aides that it was criticized for being the "cliquish cabinet." This is what led to the political scandals and misstatements that caused the current crisis for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Even after his second cabinet came in at the end of August, its members still had to resign for misuse of government funds or find themselves covered in controversy for fabricating reports on political funds. It was a cabinet shuffle all for show, without any internal cleanup.

Also, the reason he gave for resigning was an awkward one, mentioning the issue of extending the "special anti-terrorism act." Countries like the United States have strongly called for it to be extended, but the opposition Democratic Party continues to oppose it, saying that "sending troops overseas must be based on a United Nations decision." Abe openly announced he was going to resign if the bill to extend was not passed, after promising the extension of the bill to U.S. president George W. Bush when the two met recently. At the press conference in which he announced his intention to step down, however, his stated reason was that the head of the Democratic Party had refused to even meet with him to talk about it. He was probably trying to turn the situation around with such a statement, but he will find himself criticized for trying to avoid responsibility. It was also unbecoming of his own style of "diplomacy that knows how to assert itself."

Since being inaugurated, Abe worked hard on "leaving the post-war system behind" by having the Education Basic Law revised and legislating a law on national constitutional referendums. In May he issued a prime minister's statement in which he called for the constitution to be amended by deleting Article 9 of Japan's "peace constitution," which denies the right of the country's Self Defense Forces to engage in warfare. The LDP's complete and historical defeat in upper house elections and the course of events that led to Abe's resignation symbolize how his approach got stuck on the rocks. You have to assume that the Japanese people decided Abe's position was a dangerous one. The fact is that his cabinet's interpretations of history and his hard-line approach to North Korea created unnecessary tensions with neighboring nations. The LDP needs to take heed of this harsh view of its approach as it chooses the next prime minister.