Fumio Kishida set to become Japan's 100th prime minister

Kishida, who was behind the 2015 agreement on the "comfort women" issue between Korea and Japan, is expected to maintain the Abe course of diplomacy with the Korean Peninsula

Newly elected leader of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party Fumio Kishida (screen capture from Kishida’s website)

Fumio Kishida has been chosen as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

At a hotel in Tokyo on Wednesday, Kishida, the 64-year-old former chair of the party's Policy Research Council, won the race to lead the LDP. He stood and bowed to the crowd after being elected.

Picked by the party to become Japan's 100th prime minister, Kishida beat rival Taro Kono, who had overwhelming public support for his calls for administrative reform. The LDP's unique form of factional politics thus won out over public sentiment in Japan demanding political change and reform.

Takeshi Noda, chairman of the party’s election committee, announced voting would start at 1 pm. Kishida earned 257 votes and Kono earned 170, with two abstentions.

After the results were announced, Kishida said that Japan was in a state of national crisis and pledged to tackle COVID-19 with a “desperate determination” and devise economic measures worth trillions of Japanese yen (1 trillion yen is roughly US$9 billion) by year's end.

Regarding the general election in November, he said, "The party's presidential election is over. Let everyone unite wisely and run for both houses of the Diet."

In a press conference after his election, he said, "My specialty is hearing other people's stories. I will listen as much as possible about pending issues and give respectful answers."

In the election's first round, Kishida received 256 votes, Kono received 255, former party Secretary-General Sanae Takaichi received 188, and acting Secretary-General Seiko Noda received 34. No candidate received the 382-vote majority needed to win, so the top two contenders faced off in a second round of voting.

As expected, votes in the first round from the party's mainstream conservatives, including the Hosoda faction, which backed former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and supported the far-right Takaichi, went to Kishida, demonstrating the division within the LDP.

On diplomatic policy, Kishida said he wants a "free and open Indo-Pacific," but made no specific mention of ties with Korea. The approach of Abe and outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga toward the Korean Peninsula and public policy is expected to continue, with no major improvements to relations between Seoul and Tokyo on the horizon.

Under the second Abe administration, Kishida served as foreign minister for four years and seven months and jointly announced a bilateral agreement with South Korea on the issue of “comfort women” — a term used to refer to those drafted into sexual slavery by Imperial Japan — on Dec. 28, 2015. During his election campaign, he said, "The ball is in Korea's court."

A high-ranking official at the Blue House said, "The government seeks to cooperate with the newly launched Japanese cabinet to continue future-oriented development between Korea and Japan."

On Monday, Kishida will formally succeed Suga as prime minister at an extraordinary parliamentary session. The LDP is expected to retain its majority in the House of Representatives in the November election, so no major political shifts are anticipated. Kishida's three-year term as party president will end in September 2024.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

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