Tokyo, December 24: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Thursday he would not resign after two former close aides were charged over falsified political funding records.
“I feel a renewed sense of responsibility to fulfil my duties as a politician,” Hatoyama said in a statement.
The scandal, which has been public knowledge for months, has been thought unlikely to force Hatoyama to resign but the indictment will be another headache for his government, which marked 100 days in office on Thursday and faces key decisions on next year’s budget and relocating a U.S. airbase in southern Japan.
—Agencies