Chapter 514: Juyoung Hong (41)
In Tokyo, Japan.
While the United States has the CIA and Korea has the National Intelligence Service, Japan has the Cabinet Intelligence Office under the prime minister.
As it directly reports to the prime minister, the Cabinet Intelligence Office has a huge power because those in high positions want to monopolize and control the intelligence they have access to.
In fact, after taking office, the first thing the prime minister did traditionally was to plant his own men in the Cabinet Intelligence Office.
Of course, there were times when the Cabinet Intelligence Office had little power.
The term of office of the prime minister once elected was four years, but if the ruling party lost at the general elections or the cabinet's approval rating fell below 50%, the prime minister usually stepped down, according to traditional practices.
Because of that, there were quite a few prime ministers who stepped down in two years or sometimes in one year after taking office.
But it was a different story when it came to the far-right incumbent Prime Minister Abezo. He had already won his third term, and no one disputed that he would succeed in winning a fourth term. As a result, the Cabinet Intelligence Office under Prime Minister Abezo, which served as his eyes and ears, had more power than ever before.
It's been 10 years since the Japanese people elected the current leader as the prime minister, so all the top positions of the Cabinet Intelligence Office were filled by those that Abezo handpicked.