Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has suggested he will retain Fumio Kishida as foreign minister in the Cabinet reshuffle planned for early next month, sources in the government and ruling party said Friday.
Kishida, viewed as the front-runner to succeed Abe as Liberal Democratic Party president and thus prime minister, had intended to leave the Cabinet in an apparent attempt to prepare for the LDP leadership race in September 2018 but has agreed to stay on.
During a one-on-one meeting at a Tokyo hotel Thursday evening, Abe is believed to have told Kishida he will give him an important post in the Cabinet, the sources said, adding that Abe asked for his help in achieving his quest to revise the war-renouncing Constitution.