Beleaguered Defense Minister Tomomi Inada announced Friday that she will resign over allegations that a cover-up was conducted to hide the politically sensitive activity logs of the Ground Self-Defense Force unit that was deployed for peacekeeping duty in conflict-riven South Sudan.

Inada's resignation will deliver another punch in the gut to the scandal-tainted administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has for several months and despite repeated lapses consistently stuck up for Inada, widely considered his protege.

"Not only has the log controversy highlighted inappropriate handling of information disclosure, but the fact that there were numerous instances of what appeared to be information leakage from within our organization has risked eroding public trust in our governance system," Inada told a packed news conference Friday.