Dark clouds hang over Japanese politics. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been jolted by allegations that some of its leading members took payoffs from the mutual-aid organization KSD. The scandal came after Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori reshuffled his Cabinet last month and the restructured central bureaucracy began operations early this month.
Fukushiro Nukaga was forced to resign Tuesday as state minister for economic and fiscal policy in connection with the scandal, dealing a severe blow to the Mori administration. Earlier, Masakuni Murakami, chairman of the LDP members' general assembly in the Upper House, resigned after admitting his close links with KSD.
Murakami was one of the five LDP heavyweights who decided to name Mori prime minister in a secret meeting last April to replace the ailing Keizo Obuchi. The other participants were then LDP Deputy Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka, LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki and then LDP Secretary General Mori. The deal became known as a conspiracy by the "Gang of Four" -- excluding Mori.