Japan's foreign minister resigns over donation

Japan's foreign minister suddenly quit yesterday for having accepted a political donation from a foreigner - a violation of Japanese law - dealing another blow to the embattled administration of prime minister Naoto Kan.

Seiji Maehara, 48, was foreign minister for just six months, and was viewed as a leading candidate to succeed Mr Kan.

Mr Maehara acknowledged receiving 50,000 yen ($590) last year from a 72-year-old Korean woman who has lived most of her life in Japan. He said they had been friends since his childhood.

Some Japanese newspapers, however, said her donations over the years totalled 250,000 yen ($3,000).

Mr Maehara's resignation at a televised news conference last night furthers the high turnover that has plagued government officials in recent years and is likely to further erode public confidence in Mr Kan - the country's fifth leader in four years - whose public approval rating has fallen below 20 per cent.

"I apologise to the people that I ended up resigning after just six months on the job, and for causing distrust due to a politics-and-money problem despite my pledge to seek clean politics," Mr Maehara said, bowing.

"It's truly regrettable that I caused such a problem because of my own mistake."