Toyko - The cat-and-mouse game of the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, continued yesterday with his denial that he had expressed an intention to resign, Miriam Donohoe reports.
In a face-saving exit strategy, the beleaguered Japanese leader told the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday he would bring forward from September an election for the LDP presidency. The move was seen as his way of announcing he would resign when the new party leader was in place. However, questioned by the opposition in parliament yesterday, Mr Mori said neither he nor LDP executives understood this as a statement of intention to resign.