Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Tuesday that she will wait until a fuller picture emerges of the embezzlement scams enveloping her ministry before imposing punitive measures upon herself.
Two Foreign Ministry officials were fired Monday over alleged misuse of public funds, while other senior ministry officials, including Vice Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima, have accepted pay cuts to take responsibility for the scandal.
Hiromu Kobayashi, a 45-year-old former assistant director in the Office of the Deputy Director General for General Affairs at the Economic Affairs Bureau, and his 38-year-old subordinate, Tsutomu Okuma, were indicted earlier Monday for allegedly padding limousine bills related to last year's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa Prefecture.