Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned as scheduled en masse on Tuesday morning, according to Kyodo News.

Yasuo Fukuda, newly-elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will be elected premier by the lower house of the Diet in the afternoon and form his new Cabinet in the evening.

Abe stepped into power last September. During his one year's term, he made efforts to improve relations with China and South Korea. On domestic policies, he continued with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform and finished the upgrade of the defense agency into a ministry.

A series of scandals related with Cabinet ministers tarnished the Abe administration as well as the LDP, which suffered a historical defeat in July's upper house election.

Abe originally refused to step down to take responsibility as was urged by many politicians. However, less than a month after the Cabinet reshuffle and only two days after making a policy speech, he abruptly announced resignation on September 12.

The decision was slapped by both oppositions and some members of the ruling camp for wasting tax payers' money for the 13-day adjournment of the parliament due to his sudden resignation.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2007)