NHK: Japan's Abe Faction Decides to Dissolve Amid 'Slush Fund Scandal' (Update)

by Son Seonhee

Published 19 Jan.2024 20:10(KST)

According to local Japanese media on the 19th, the 'Abe faction,' the largest faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been under investigation for a recent 'slush fund scandal,' has decided to disband.

According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, the Abe faction held an extraordinary party members' meeting on the afternoon of the same day to discuss the disbandment of the faction and future response measures. This is interpreted as a result of responsibility issues arising, such as the Abe faction's accounting officer being indicted without detention, due to the faction having raised the largest amount of slush funds among LDP factions.

A Japanese prosecution vehicle is leaving the office building of 'Abepa' in Tokyo in December last year. 2023.12.19 [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Department indicted the Abe faction's accounting officer without detention on the same day on charges of failing to report 675.03 million yen (approximately 610 million KRW) in political funds over five years from 2018 to 2022 in faction political fund income and expenditure reports or individual lawmaker accounting ledgers, thereby converting them into slush funds.

The Abe faction, with 98 affiliated lawmakers, is the largest faction within the LDP and has produced four prime ministers since 2000: Mori Yoshiro, Koizumi Junichiro, Abe Shinzo, and Fukuda Yasuo.

Meanwhile, earlier that morning, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, who previously served as the head of the LDP's fourth-largest faction, the Kishida faction (46 members), also announced, "To restore political trust, we will disband 'Kochikai' (the Kishida faction)." Following the announcement of the Kishida faction's disbandment, the fifth-largest faction, the Nikai faction (38 members), also declared its disbandment.

As a result, among the six major factions of the LDP, three factions have disbanded, excluding the Aso faction (56 members), the Motegi faction (53 members), and the Moriyama faction (8 members).

The remaining 77 LDP lawmakers were not affiliated with any specific faction.