The Justice Minister of Japan, Yasuhiro Hanash on Friday resigned, becoming the second Minister to leave the cabinet over a scandal in less than a month.
It was reported that Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida struggles to stem his sliding approval rating.
Kishida’s support has slumped to the 30 percent in many recent polls, close to a danger zone that will make it hard for him to promote his agenda.
The Justice Minister was criticized for remarks widely seen as making light of his role in authorizing executions of death-row inmates, which he referred to as ‘’tedious.’’
“I tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister,” he said.
Hanashi, a member of Kishida’s faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was reported to have suggested that there is little political advantage to his cabinet post and that he only made the news for “approving an execution in the morning”.
Japan carries out capital punishment by hanging and do not inform the prisoners until the morning of the day of their execution, a policy that rights groups have criticised for decades.
Meanwhile, Hanashi apologised on Thursday for the comments and told parliament that he “took them back.”