Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been hospitalized since he announced in mid-September that he will step down, is likely to be absent from a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday where it is set to resign en masse, his aides said.

The top government spokesman said he is unsure of whether Abe will attend the meeting. "He may come. He may not. At present, I have no choice but to give you these two answers," Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano told a press conference on Friday.

However, aides to him say the doctor in charge views it difficult for Abe to attend the Cabinet meeting next Tuesday.

All the Cabinet ministers will sign a document at Tuesday's meeting to disband the Cabinet. Abe will then approve it at the hospital.

Abe will be the first prime minister to be absent from a Cabinet meeting where it votes to resign without appointing an acting prime minister.

When Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was hospitalized after a stroke in April 2000, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki was appointed as acting prime minister and convened an extraordinary Cabinet meeting to resign en masse. (Mainichi)

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