Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's decision Friday to accept Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa's resignation was apparently aimed at containing further damage to his administration, which was battered recently over his comments regarding a controversial proposal to North Korea.
The opposition forces, buoyant over Nakagawa's resignation, are now poised to shift gears in their attack and focus blame on Mori for his "inappropriate" choice for top government spokesman. Even as late as Thursday, Mori was staunch in his defense of Nakagawa.
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party bigwigs are striving to prevent the sparks from Nakagawa's resignation from burning Mori, insisting that Mori could not have known of his right-hand man's alleged extramarital affair, which occurred more than five years ago.