<Anchor>

Japanese Prime Minister Abe is said to have had a conflict until the end over whether or not to announce his resignation. Although he succeeded in power for the longest term, some criticisms of damaging democracy have come out and, ahead of the election of the next prime minister, there are signs of conflict between factions within the LDP.

This is Tokyo's correspondent Yoo Seong-jae.

<Reporter> Although his

health deteriorated, Prime Minister Abe did not express his intention to resign until the cabinet meeting in the morning of yesterday (28th).

After the ministerial meeting, Prime Minister Abe announced that he would resign by calling only Deputy Prime Minister Aso separately, and it is said that he refused to persuade Aso to remain in the position of Prime Minister.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Prime Minister Abe decided to resign after medical treatment on the 24th, but hesitated with his mouth shut for four days.

[Abe/Japanese Prime Minister (press conference yesterday): Of course… It wasn't that there wasn't a conflict, thinking that I couldn't do it a little more.]

Japanese media reported that Abe's so-called'first river' politics were more commonplace than debate, but democracy was undermined.

They did not sincerely answer the public's questions, and also evaluated that the public sentiment was forced to resign due to the pride and harm of long-term rule.

While it is expected that the Liberal Democratic Party will elect a new governor around the 15th of next month, Defense Minister Kono has indicated his intention to run.

[Kono/Japan Defense Award: From now on, I would like to consult with my colleagues about such things (running).]

There are also signs of conflict between factions within the Liberal Democratic Party over the method of electing governor whether to vote only for members of parliament or party members.

It is an analysis that the key issue of the governor's election is how much to show the blueprint for the victory in the next general election, that is, the extension of the regime.

(Video coverage: Han Cheol-min)