TOKYO, May 7 (UPI) -- Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda resigned from office Friday for failing to make his mandatory national pension payments.
The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said Fukuda was one of several senior politicians found to have avoided the pension premiums.
His resignation is a serious blow to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, as Fukuda has long served as the premier's right-hand man both in diplomacy and domestic politics.
News of the non-payments broke April 23, and Fukuda initially refused to address the issue.
"I don't think I need announce my personal information," he said that day.
But five days later, he admitted he failed to pay for three years and one month since being elected to the Diet, or parliament.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda was appointed as Fukuda's successor.
