Extracurricular activities are a source of vitality for prosecutors, said the deputy prosecutor general of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, it was learned Wednesday.
Katsumasa Horiguchi made the remark when asked to comment on the resignation of a senior Tokyo prosecutor over a sex scandal.
Horiguchi, 61, on Tuesday emerged as the most likely successor to Mamoru Norisada, 60, who headed the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office -- the nation's No. 2 prosecutor.
According to sources, Horiguchi's comment was made Monday morning when he was surrounded by reporters in front of a Justice Ministry office. This was immediately after Norisada tendered his resignation, which was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, over his affair with a 28-year-old woman.
Horiguchi told reporters he thinks newspapers that carried the story regarding Norisada's extramarital affair on their front pages are schemers. "There might have been extramarital affairs, but everybody is working, drawing vitality from them," the sources quoted him as saying.
Justice Ministry officials later said Horiguchi had retracted his remarks referring to extramarital affairs and media schemers.