OSAKA (Kyodo) Scandal-tainted lawmaker Shingo Nishimura on Sunday rejected calls for his resignation after the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito submitted a resolution proposal last week urging him to step down.
"I announced in January that I have no intention to resign because I need to handle the abduction issue, and I have not changed my stance," Nishimura said at a speech in Osaka.
The lawmaker has been actively engaged in resolving past abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents. His comments came ahead of a plenary session of the Diet that is expected to adopt the resolution as early as this week.
Nishimura, who has been ousted from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, pleaded guilty last week to illegally letting a former employee of his law firm use his name as a lawyer.