The Foreign Ministry will replace its secretariat director general, Tomoyuki Abe, who is expected to remain in hospital for a long time to recover from work exhaustion, a high-ranking ministry official said Wednesday.
Abe, who has been heading the internal team investigating an embezzlement scandal involving a former ministry official, was hospitalized earlier this month.
Yutaka Iimura, head of the Economic Cooperation Bureau, will fill the position, the official said.
Iimura will retain his post at the bureau while serving as head of the secretariat. The appointment will be formally endorsed at a Cabinet meeting Friday, the official said.