Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida on Wednesday, August 14 set the stage for his departure as premier after three years in power by announcing he will not run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race next month to take responsibility for a slush funds scandal.

The sudden announcement came as Kishida's Cabinet stepped up disaster preparedness after the weather agency last week issued its first-ever advisory warning of the increased risk of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough that stretches from central to southwestern Japan in the Pacific.

"As a first step to impress on the public that the LDP has changed, I have decided not to run in the presidential race," Kishida said at a press conference at the prime minister's office, adding he had made the choice at a time when he was free of immediate diplomatic commitments.

LDP lawmakers "should work as one" under a new leader to restore public trust in politics and address various challenges such as implementing measures to curb the declining birthrate in an aging society and to bolster defense capabilities, he said.

Kishida, who hosted the Group of Seven (G7) summit in his home constituency of Hiroshima in 2023, has seen the approval ratings for his Cabinet, launched in October 2021, plunge to the 20 percent range in the wake of the scandal, which first broke late last year.

The eighth premier since 1945 to reach 1,000 days in office, Kishida said he will continue to serve as a "rank-and-file" LDP lawmaker, while declining to comment on who would be the best choice for next party chief and prime minister.

Both Kishida and his immediate predecessor Yoshihide Suga were forced to give up seeking reelection as LDP leader, making former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who resigned in September 2020, the last LDP chief to win reelection.