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.
