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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\\\’s government will consider resubmitting a bill to raise the retirement age for prosecutors and other civil servants, its top spokesman said on Wednesday, after a public backlash prompted the withdrawal of the draft legislation.
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The government abandoned its push to enact a bill during the current session of parliament, which ended on Wednesday, that would raise prosecutors\\\’ retirement age to 65 from 63, and let the cabinet defer retirement of senior prosecutors for a further three years.
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Critics and others argued it would threaten judicial independence.
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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga that the government would want civil servants with abundant knowledge and experiences to keep working.
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“There is no change to our views that raising the retirement age for civil servants is needed to address properly to administrative issues that have become complex and advanced,” he told a news conference.
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“The government will consider resubmitting a bill taking into consideration of various views.”
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Tokyo\\\’s top prosecutor Hiromu Kurokawa, who is seen as close to Abe, resigned in May for gambling, which is illegal in Japan, during Japan\\\’s coronavirus state of emergency, when citizens have been asked to observe social distancing guidelines and avoid unnecessary outings.
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Kurokawa was at the centre of a furore over the government\\\’s efforts to raise the retirement age for prosecutors after he was allowed to stay in his post beyond retirement age of 63.
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The government would aim to resubmit the bill to the next parliament, which may start in autumn, or later, the Nikkei business daily said.
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(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Linda Sieg; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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