Japanese PM Fumio Kishida heckled during parliament address amid scandal fallout

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was heckled in Japan's legislature Tuesday as he delivered remarks taking responsibility for recent failures and charting economic and social policy.

Kishida has faced falling poll numbers amid a party scandal and economic struggles and sought to restore faith in the government during remarks delivered during the ordinary parliamentary session which began Friday.

"There's no policy implementation without political stability. And there is no political stability without the trust of citizens," Kishida said. Members of Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have been embroiled in a slush fund scandal that resulted in indictments against several members.

The indicted members were accused of underreporting campaign funds.

Kishida on Tuesday apologized for leaving the public to "cast skeptical eyes" on the government over the scandal and promised to push for reforms within the party but he was met by jeers from opposition lawmakers.

Kenta Izumi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said after the speech that Kishida's comments on the scandal were "extremely insincere" and failed to address the root of the problem.

Kishida also emphasized the damage caused by the Jan. 1, 7.6 magnitude Noto Earthquake which caused extensive damage and resulted in at least 238 fatalities.

Kishida said the reserve fund budget would be doubled to $6.7 billion for the 2024 fiscal year, partially in order to address the damage caused by the Koto earthquake.

He said Japan would play a significant role on the global stage in 2024 and vowed to continue sanctions on Russia that were imposed in the aftermath of the full scale of invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida also demanded China drop its ban on Japanese sea food which was imposed in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.