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Japanese foreign minister Seiji Maehara resigns

07 March 2011 08:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Japanâ€™s foreign minister Seiji Maehara has resigned. He announced his decision at the press conference on Sunday, APA reports. Maehara resigned following revelations that the fund politically supported him had received an illegal donation from a foreign national. Japan’s political funding laws ban donations from foreigners to prevent policy from being unduly influenced by outside interests.
Maehara had earlier admitted receiving a total of $ 3000 from a South Korean woman, who has been residing in Japan long year, in the past several years for his election campaign. Maehara said the Korean woman was his childhood friend.
Maehara had been tipped as a possible successor to the prime minister six month ago. Prime Minister Naoto Kan tried to assure him not to resign, but failed. Maehara brought apologize to the Japan citizens.
The chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, will double up as foreign minister until a permanent replacement is named for Maehara.