Abe takes office as Japan's PM with focus on economic recovery

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, took office as Japan's new prime minister on Wednesday, putting top priority on overcoming the prolonged economic slump during his second time in office along with many other veteran Cabinet members.

Abe was voted in as the seventh premier in six years by both chambers of parliament before forming a new Cabinet with his close allies, following the LDP's landslide victory in this month's general election after three years in opposition, as Japan is also struggling to raise its international profile amid renewed tensions with China.

"I got up today with a fresh feeling," Abe, who was prime minister in 2006-2007, told reporters before his inauguration. "By drawing on my experience of heading a government, I'd like to run my new government in a stable manner."

After the vote by the lower house, two-thirds of which is now controlled by the LDP and its ally the New Komeito party, the less powerful upper house, in which they lack a majority, also selected the 58-year-old Abe as the country's new leader, replacing Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan.

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