Born into a prominent political family, Shinzo Abe, who was fatally shot at a campaign event Friday in western Japan, had been the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
While credited with bringing a degree of stability to Japan following a period of economic malaise and constant turnover among leaders, Abe angered neighbors South Korea and China — along with many Japanese — with his nationalistic rhetoric and calls to revise the country’s pacifist constitution, AFP said.
