Digital minister Taro Kono said Tuesday he will voluntarily return three months of his salary as a Cabinet member to take responsibility over a string of errors involving the My Number national identification system.
While acknowledging the Digital Agency's "slow initial response" in addressing a spate of registration errors that occurred while linking My Number cards to bank accounts for receiving state benefits, Kono announced he would not resign from his post, saying, "I will continue to devote myself to my duties."
A series of personal information leaks and registration errors related to the ID cards have heightened public anxiety about the system, triggering a decline in approval ratings for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet in recent months.