Japan PM Suga says he won't run in LDP race to focus on COVID-19 measures

FILE PHOTO : Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends a news conference on Japan's response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at his official residence during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, July 30, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he had decided not to run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race and wanted to focus instead on fighting the COVID-10 pandemic.

"Running in the race and handling coronavirus countermeasures would have required an enormous amount of energy," he told reporters.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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