[Breaking] NHK "Shigeru Ishiba likely to resign as Japan's prime minister"

"Unable to withstand calls to step down within the party"

Press conference at 6 p.m. today

Expected to officially declare intention to resign

Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's prime minister, firmed up his intention to resign on the 7th. It is one day before a decision is to be made on whether the LDP will hold an interim party presidential election. Ishiba said he would step down to avoid a split in the party. Observers see it as an intention to voluntarily resign to calm internal turmoil.

According to NHK and others, the Japanese government announced that Prime Minister Ishiba will hold a press conference at 6 p.m. that day. He is expected to express his intention to resign.

After the House of Councillors (upper house) election defeat in July, while Prime Minister Ishiba had refused to resign, the LDP decided on the 8th to determine whether to hold an interim party presidential election. A presidential election will be held if a majority of the party's Diet members and representatives of each prefecture request it.

According to an NHK survey, of the LDP's 295 Diet members, more than 130 had demanded a presidential election as of that day. Following Taro Aso, the party's top advisor who leads the LDP's only faction, the Aso faction, lawmakers within the Ishiba cabinet also began to call for an election.

At a joint Diet members' meeting on the 2nd, Prime Minister Ishiba said that measures on inflation and responses to U.S. tariffs were his responsibility, adding, "I am not clinging to my position at all, and I will make a proper decision at an appropriate time."

On the 6th, Ishiba met with LDP Vice President Yoshihide Suga and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. Suga and Koizumi urged him to step down before the final decision on whether to hold a presidential election, saying party unity is more important than anything.

The LDP suffered defeat in this July's House of Councillors election following last October's House of Representatives election. It is the first time since its founding in 1955 that the LDP has failed to secure a majority in both chambers. The day after the House of Councillors election, Prime Minister Ishiba refused to resign, saying, "The most important thing is not to cause stagnation in state affairs." However, voices within the party continued to call for accountability for consecutive election defeats.

Tokyo = Kim Il-gyu, correspondent