Japanese PM Abe visits hospital again as health rumors swirl: report

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday returned to a hospital in Tokyo a week after he purportedly received a "health checkup" amid swirling rumors about the state of his health, local media reported.

Government sources close to the prime minister told local media that Abe has returned to the Keio University Hospital to receive the results of the medical checks conducted during the more than seven-hour regular checkup a week prior.

Abe's admission to hospital on August 17 came a day after former economy minister Akira Amari told a TV program that the prime minister needs to rest, intimating he may be suffering from exhaustion.

During his first tenure as prime minister, which started in late September 2006, the 65-year-old abruptly stepped down from his post in 2007 due to chronic ulcerative colitis, an intestinal disease.

(CGTN)