TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday in an apparent bid to distance his government from the conservative Unification Church, whose ties to assassinated premier Shinzo Abe and senior ruling party leadership caused a major drop in approval ratings.

The Cabinet renewal was the second in just 10 months since Kishida took office following the July election victory that had been expected to ensure long-term stability until 2025. But Abe’s shocking assassination on July 8 and its impact on politics increased uncertainty as public support for Kishida’s Cabinet plunged.

The prime minister told reporters on Tuesday that a “strict review” of candidates’ ties to the church would be a “prerequisite” in the new lineup of Cabinet officials and executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Kishida said he had instructed his ministers and other senior officials to clarify their connection to the Unification Church “so that we can achieve political and administrative work that can be trusted by the people.”

At a governing party meeting earlier on Wednesday, he called on his fellow lawmakers to unite and tackle the challenges with a sense of urgency.

Abe was fatally shot while giving a campaign speech two days before a parliamentary election. Police and media reports say the man arrested had targeted Abe over suspected ties to the Unification Church, which the man hated because his mother’s massive financial donations to the church ruined his family.

Kishida said the main purpose of the reshuffle was to “break through one of the biggest postwar crises,” such as the coronavirus pandemic, inflation, growing tensions between China and self-ruled Taiwan, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A survey released by public broadcaster Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK or Japan Broadcasting Corp.) on Monday showed that support for the Cabinet fell from 59 percent to 46 percent.

Most of the respondents said they thought politicians had not sufficiently explained their ties to the Unification Church. Kishida’s plan to hold a state funeral for Abe has also split public opinion because of Abe’s archconservative stances on national security and wartime history. Critics also see a state funeral as the government’s attempt to glorify Abe’s legacy.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who retained his post, announced the new lineup, including five who kept their posts, another five who were brought back and nine first-timers.

Seven ministers who acknowledged their ties to the church were removed. They include Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s younger brother who said church followers were volunteers in his past election campaigns; and Public Safety Commission Chairman Satoshi Ninoyu, who attended an event organized by a churchrelated group.

Kishi was replaced by former Defense minister Yasukazu Hamada. Taro Kono, who previously served as a vaccination tsar during the pandemic, as well as foreign and defense minister, returned to the Cabinet as digital minister.

Along with Matsuno, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, Transportation Minister Tetsuo Saito and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki also kept their jobs.

Economy and Trade Minister Koici Hagiuda, who also had church ties, was shifted to head the party policy research committee and replaced by ex-minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. Katsunobu Kato was appointed health minister for the third time, tasked with coronavirus measures.

The new Cabinet suggested that Kishida tasked veterans with key policies, such as diplomacy, defense, economic security and pandemic measures, while carefully keeping a power balance among party wings to solidify unity amid growing speculation of a power struggle within Abe’s faction.

Despite criticism that Japanese politics is dominated by older men, the majority of the Cabinet members are still men older than 60, with only two women.

They are Sanae Takaichi, an ultraconservative close to Abe who was appointed economic security minister; and Keiko Nagaoka, a first-timer who became education minister and replaced Shinsuke Suematsu, who also acknowledged his Unification Church links.