Ex-minister Kobayashi says to run in Japan's ruling party leadership race

Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi said Thursday he will run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election next month, which will choose the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.Kobayashi told reporters he will work for "middle-class and young people" if elected party head. He is the second LDP lawmaker to officially announce their candidacy for the Oct. 4 race, after former Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.Kobayashi, a 50-year-old former Finance Ministry bureaucrat educated at Harvard University and widely seen as a conservative, said he pl…READ FULL ARTICLE