Pressure mounted today on Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a ballooning cronyism and cover-up scandal, as a new poll showed his support at the lowest level since his re-election in October. The scandal surrounds the 2016 sale of state-owned land to a nationalist operator of schools who claims ties to Abe and his wife Akie. Abe and Aso both apologised "deeply" over the affair amid signs the PM's popularity is suffering six months before he stands for re-election as head of the ruling LDP party. A new poll released by public broadcaster NHK Tuesday showed support for the Abe government dropped to the lowest since he won a resounding re-election in October. One key official linked to the scandal was found dead last week in a suspected suicide.

Source: dna March 13, 2018 10:07 UTC