Japans longest-serving prime minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurface
Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was ‘gut wrenching’ to leave so many of his goals unfinished. Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said his condition was controlled through treatment. Concerns about his health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. Abe said he was on a new treatment that required IV injections. While there had been some improvement, he said, there was no guarantee that the treatment would cure his condition. “It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia.
