Japanese PM Visits Hospital Amid Speculation About His Heath
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:38 am
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2020 photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks off after delivering a speech during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in Hiroshima, western Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited a hospital Monday for what sources say was a follow-up to his regular checkup, although the visit generated renewed worries about his health.
Video from TV Tokyo showed a black car believed to be carrying Abe pulling into Keio University Hospital in Tokyo.
The prime minister's office declined to comment on the hospital visit, saying it was not on his official schedule. Abe has been on a summer break recently, as has much of Japan.
Abe, 65, has had health concerns before. He was forced to step down in 2007 after just one year in office due to complications from ulcerative colitis. He says the condition is now under control with medication.
Although Abe sometimes goes to his summer home in the countryside about this time of year, he has stayed in Tokyo amid widespread concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, according to Kyodo.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader, is in his second tenure as prime minister.