Japanese opposition leader quits in pensions scandal

Japan’s top opposition leader resigned today after he admitted he missed payments into the troubled national pension system.

He is the second high-profile politician to step down in the scandal.

Naoto Kan, the head of the Democratic Party, had resisted quitting but pressure built over the weekend for him to atone for failing to make payments while he was health and welfare minister in the 1990s.

“I caused great trouble for the Japanese people by increasing distrust in politics. My responsibility in this regard is very great,” Kan said at meeting of Democratic Party lawmakers in Tokyo. “To take responsibility, I will resign as head of the party.”

Kan is one in an expanding group of Japanese politicians who have confessed to missing pension premium payments. The scandal comes as the government is trying to reform the system to account for the growing number of retirees as the society ages.

On Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda resigned after admitting that he had unwittingly missed payments.