Tokyo, June 01: Japan’s Prime Minister vows to continue to lead his country despite growing calls from his own party to resign following his decision over a US military base.
Calls have emerged in Yukio Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for the premier to step down to restore the party’s chances in the upper house election expected in July, Reuters reports.
But Hatoyama, who had talks on Monday with the Secretary-General of his party, Ichiro Ozawa, said after the meeting that he would stay.
“I will discuss, cooperate with Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa and tackle the difficulties this country faces,” Hatoyama was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as telling reporters.
Support for the Japanese cabinet has plunged to 17 percent, down four percentage points from two weeks ago, according to an Asahi Shimbun poll conducted on Saturday and Sunday.
According to the survey, the Japanese government’s disapproval rating has risen to 70 percent ahead of the looming election, following a controversial decision by Hatoyama’s party not to move a US base in Okinawa off the island.
After months of tension, Tokyo and Washington said in a statement last week that the base would be moved, as first agreed in 2006, from a crowded urban area to a coastal region of Okinawa.
The move infuriated the people of Okinawa, who complain about base-related noise, pollution and crime. Many want the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station moved off the island entirely.
——Agencies