Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will step down over health concerns, national broadcaster NHK reported on Friday morning.
Local media reported Abe is scheduled to address a press conference at 5pm (local time) on Friday on the COVID-19 situation. In recent weeks, Abe had been to hospital twice, raising concerns over his health. Abe has not addressed the media in over two months.
Abe became Japan's longest-serving prime minister on November 20 last year as he overtook the record of Katsura Taro, by serving 2,887 days in office.
Abe's first tenure as prime minister was in September 2006, but he resigned a year later over bowel problems. Abe returned to power in December 2012 and has remained in office until now. Abe was eligible to serve as prime minister until September 30 next year, when his tenure as chief of the Liberal Democratic Party ends.
Media reports claimed Abe is facing a recurrence of the digestive issues that cut short his first tenure. “Although the government has provided few details, domestic media have said he was actually undergoing treatment for ulcerative colitis, a chronic digestive condition that forced him to step down as prime minister in 2007,” Bloomberg reported.
Abe has been credited with attempting to revamp Japan's pacifist post-war foreign and defence policies to deal with the threats of North Korea and Japan.
