Updated 5/30/23 at 2:15 p.m
“His behavior over the last year in public was inappropriate for a political secretary and we have decided to replace him.” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been adamant about his son. He said Monday that he was removing him from his post as secretary for “inappropriate conduct” at the Headquarters.
The decision follows revelations in a magazine that Shotaro Kishida invited relatives to a party at the prime minister’s estate last year. Media photos showed some guests mimicking a press conference and one guest lying on a red carpeted staircase. Fumio Kishida told reporters that the resignation would come on June 1.
Other controversies in the past
The prime minister initially reprimanded his 32-year-old son, but criticism from the opposition grew and called for his resignation. Fumio Kishida had already come under fire for his son’s attitude of using company cars to buy souvenirs for ministers when he traveled to Europe.
Kishida has lost four ministers in three months over allegations of financial irregularities or links to the controversial Moon sect, also known as the Unification Church.