1st LD Writethru: Japan's vice finance minister to resign over sexual harassment

TOKYO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Administrative Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda will resign from his post amid allegations that he sexually harassed female reporters, Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Wednesday.

Fukuda's resignation came less than a year after he took on the role as the ministry's top bureaucrat and at a time when the ministry has been under fire for a number of improprieties, including a cronyism scandal implicating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Fukuda, 58, was alleged by the weekly Shukan Shincho magazine to have made remarks to female reporters while drinking that were overtly sexual in nature.

In an audio clip, thereafter released on the magazine's website, Fukuda could allegedly be heard asking a female reporter in a bar or restaurant, Can I give you a hug?" and "Can I touch your breasts?"

The ministry has said that following an interview, Fukuda said he had no recollection of having dined with a female reporter.

Fukuda's resignation comes at a time of sinking public support for Abe's cabinet and the powerful Finance Ministry owing to a prolonged cronyism scandal centered around the ministry's involvement in the cut-price sale of state land to a nationalist school operator with ties to Abe's wife.

A separate influence-peddling scandal also yet to be resolved involves the government selecting a veterinary school run by a close friend of Abe to be opened in a specially deregulated zone. Enditem