Tokyo, Dec. 4 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese opposition Democratic Party for the People on Wednesday decided to suspend its leader Yuichiro Tamaki from his post over an extramarital affair reported by a weekly magazine.

DPFP acting chief Motohisa Furukawa will assume party leader duties during the period of suspension until March 3 next year.

In November, Tamaki admitted having the alleged affair in the report, saying, “I’d like to sincerely apologize not only to my family but also to everyone in the country who had high hopes for me.”

The party’s ethics committee, which had been investigating the matter, deemed the affair “a serious breach of duty of care.” It concluded that the party’s reputation and the public’s trust in it were damaged because the affair was an action of a party leader that went beyond the scope of a personal matter.

After his suspension was decided at Wednesday’s meeting of DPFP parliamentarians of both chambers of the country’s parliament, Tamaki told reporters that he would not resign as party leader.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]