Prime Minister Ishiba said, "Political reform from the starting point..."I want a summit meeting between the U.S. and South Korea."

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he would "go back to the drawing board and work on political reform" after being elected prime minister again more than 40 days after taking office.

Prime Minister Ishiba said in a press conference, "The Liberal Democratic Party should be reborn this time," after being elected prime minister again, ranking first in a special parliamentary election the previous day.

Prime Minister Ishiba, who took office on the 1st of last month, took the lead in early dissolution of the House of Representatives in less than a month, but failed to win a majority for the first time in 15 years in seats combined with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party alone.

The cause of such a crushing defeat was analyzed to have been greatly affected by the Liberal Democratic Party's slush fund scandal under former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In this regard, Prime Minister Ishiba presented political reform measures at a press conference, such as digitizing political funds reports and obtaining verification from third-party independent agencies.

Prime Minister Ishiba also said he plans to visit South America from the 14th, adding, "I would like to have the opportunity to meet with US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and other leaders to discuss the international situation openly."

Prime Minister Ishiba is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and APEC summit in Peru from the 15th to the 16th and the G20 summit in Brazil from the 18th to the 19th.

In this regard, Kyodo News quoted a Japanese government official as saying that Korea, the U.S. and Japan are coordinating a plan to hold a three-nation summit in time for the APEC summit.

As for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Prime Minister Ishiba said, "We would like to have the opportunity to hold in-person talks as early as possible to take the bilateral relationship to a new level."

Meanwhile, 16 cabinet ministers, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, remained in office after the re-election of the prime minister, as well as foreign and defense ministers.