TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday he had decided to resign, ushering in a potentially lengthy period of policy paralysis at a shaky moment for the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Mr. Ishiba, 68, instructed his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) — which has governed Japan for almost all of the post-war era — to hold an emergency leadership race, he told a press conference, adding he would continue his duties until his successor was elected.

Since coming to power less than a year ago, Mr. Ishiba has overseen his ruling coalition lose its majorities in elections for both houses of parliament amid voter anger over rising living costs.

Until Sunday, he had refused calls to step down following the latest of those losses in July’s upper house vote. He had focused instead on ironing out details of a trade deal with the United States on President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs, which have roiled Japan’s critical automotive industry and cast a shadow over weak growth.

“With Japan having signed the trade agreement and the President having signed the executive order, we have passed a key hurdle,” Mr. Ishiba said, his voice seeming to catch with emotion. “I would like to pass the baton to the next generation.”

Concern over political uncertainty led to a sell-off in Japan’s yen currency and its government bonds last week, with the yield on the 30-year bond hitting a record high on Wednesday.

Speculation over Mr. Ishiba’s fate was stoked by the LDP’s decision to schedule a vote for Monday on whether to hold an extraordinary leadership election.

KOIZUMI, TAKAICHI AMONG POSSIBLE SUCCESSORS
While a fresh leadership race could add pain for an economy hit by US tariffs, markets are focusing more on the chance of Mr. Ishiba being replaced by an advocate of looser fiscal and monetary policy, such as LDP veteran Sanae Takaichi, who has criticized the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes.

Mr. Ishiba narrowly defeated Mr. Takaichi in last year’s LDP leadership run-off. Shinjiro Koizumi, the telegenic political scion who has gained prominence as Mr. Ishiba’s farm minister tasked with trying to cap soaring prices, is another possible successor.

“Given the political pressure mounting on Ishiba after the LDP’s repeated election losses, his resignation was inevitable,” said Kazutaka Maeda, economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute.

“As for potential successors, Koizumi and Takaichi are seen as the most likely candidates. While Koizumi is not expected to bring major changes, Takaichi’s stance on expansionary fiscal policy and her cautious approach to interest rate hikes could draw scrutiny from financial markets,” Mr. Maeda said.

Since the party does not have a majority in either house, it is not guaranteed that the next LDP president will become prime minister.

Whoever becomes the next leader may choose to call a snap election to seek a mandate, analysts said. While Japan’s opposition remains fractured, the far-right, anti-immigration Sanseito party made big gains in July’s upper house election, bringing once-fringe ideas into the political mainstream.

Nearly 55% of respondents to a poll by Kyodo news agency published on Sunday said there was no need to hold an early election.

Mr. Ishiba’s last act as premier will have been to finalize the trade deal with the United States last week, under which Japan pledged $550 billion of investments in return for lower tariffs from President Trump. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — Several thousand protesters marched in Washington, DC, on Saturday to demand that US President Donald J. Trump end the deployment of National Guard troops patrolling the capital city’s streets.

With Mr. Trump vowing crackdowns in other Democratic-led cities as well, he appeared to threaten Chicago with migrant deportations in a social media post with an image that parodied the 1979 Vietnam war movie Apocalypse Now.

Protesters at the “We Are All DC” march, including undocumented immigrants and supporters of Palestinian statehood, chanted slogans denouncing Mr. Trump and carried posters, some of which read, “Trump must go now,” “Free DC” and “Resist Tyranny.”

“I’m here to protest the occupation of DC,” said Alex Laufer. “We’re opposing the authoritarian regime, and we need to get the federal police and the National Guard off our streets.”

Claiming that crime was blighting the city, Mr. Trump deployed the troops last month to “re-establish law, order, and public safety.”

Mr. Trump also placed the capital district’s Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and sent federal law enforcement personnel, including members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to police the city’s streets, moves critics have decried as federal overreach.

Justice department data showed violent crime in 2024 hit a 30-year low in Washington, a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of the US Congress.

The National Guard serves as a militia that answers to the governors of the 50 states except when called into federal service. The DC National Guard reports directly to the President.

Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he would also deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, an extraordinary effort to militarize the country’s third-largest city that was likely to trigger a legal battle with local officials.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said after Mr. Trump spoke that he had learned from reporters that the administration has “gathered ICE agents and military vehicles, and that there are more ICE agents that are on the way.”

“What they’re trying to do in DC is what they’re trying to do with other dictatorships,” said Casey, who declined to give his last name. “They’re testing DC, and if people tolerate it enough, they’re gonna do it to more and more areas. So we have to stop it while we still can.”

More than 2,000 troops, including from six Republican-led states, are patrolling the city. It is unclear when their mission will end, though the Army this week extended orders for the DC National Guard through Nov. 30.

WASHINGTON FILES SUIT
Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block the troop deployment, arguing that it was unconstitutional and violated multiple federal laws.

But some residents have welcomed the National Guard and called for the troops to be deployed in the less-affluent parts of the city where crime is rampant. The National Guard has been mostly visible in downtown and tourist areas.

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser has praised Mr. Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement personnel in the city, but has said that she hopes that the National Guard’s mission will end soon.

Ms. Bowser said there had been a sharp decline in crime, including carjackings, since the surge. The mayor signed an order this week requiring the city to coordinate with federal law enforcement.

Mr. Trump was playing golf at his course outside Washington and was not at the White House when protesters marched past on Saturday.

But he appeared to step up pressure on Chicago in a post on his Truth Social platform that said, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” parodying a line from the 1979 movie.

“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the President wrote, referring to his new order to rename the Department of Defense.

The post was accompanied by a seemingly artificial intelligence-generated picture of Mr. Trump dressed a military officer character in the film with helicopter gunships and explosions in the background. — Reuters

SEOUL — South Korea has just wrapped up talks with the US for the release of detained Korean workers in Georgia, a presidential official said on Sunday.

A plane will be on its way to bring back the Koreans once administrative procedures are completed, Kang Hun-sik, Presidential Chief of Staff, said in televised remarks.

US federal agents carried out a raid at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing facility in Georgia this week in the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative operations.

The majority of those hundreds detained were Korean nationals.

South Korea has recently reached a major trade deal with the US, which includes a $350-billion fund to help Korean companies enter the US market.

US President Donald J. Trump may visit South Korea in October for the gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event, CNN reported on Saturday, citing three Trump administration officials.

The South Korean official on Sunday said the government will seek ways to improve the visa system of Korean workers traveling to the US to “prevent a similar incident.” — Reuters