Japanese PM Shinzo Abe set to resign over health concerns

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be resigning over health issues. According to the Japanese national broadcaster NHK, Abe is all set to resign.

Shinzo Abe wanted to avoid causing problems to the government due to his worsening health condition, as per reports.

"Abe intends to resign as his illness has worsened and he worries it will cause trouble" in leading the country, national broadcaster NHK said, without citing a source. Abe, 65, is scheduled to hold a news conference at 5 p.m. to provide further details of his decision.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga strong candidate to succeed Abe?

Speculation about Abe's health arose after he made two visits to a hospital recently. He has battled the chronic disease ulcerative colitis for years. He recently made two trips to the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo within a week.

Abe's first admission to the hospital on August 17 for what was described at the time as a "health check-up" that lasted for more than seven hours. According to reports Xinhua news agency, Abe revisited the hospital to receive the results of the check-up and underwent more tests, lasting four hours.

This is the second time that Abe will step down from his post over a medical issue. Previously in 2007, He resigned because of inflammatory bowel disease, after only serving a year in office.

Before the news of Abe's resignation broke, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai said in an interview that Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is a strong candidate to succeed Abe.

(Inputs from wires)