Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori officially announced Tuesday at the Liberal Democratic Party convention that he plans to move up the date of the LDP's presidential election -- a move widely taken to mean he is ready to step down soon.
Mori, however, continued to deny he is planning to resign.
Before some 8,500 LDP members in Tokyo, Mori admitted that the ruling party is facing "severe criticism" over its recent blunders, including a string of bribery scandals and Mori's own controversial actions in the aftermath of the Feb. 9 sinking of a Japanese fisheries training vessel off Hawaii.