TOKYO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday instructed his cabinet ministers to draw up countermeasures to avoid future cases of government officials mishandling or falsifying documents.
The move came after a slew of such cases had damaged public trust in the government.
"To secure proper management of public documents, the government will come together to thoroughly conduct a necessary review," Abe said at a meeting held at his office comprising a number of ministers.
He added that the government needed to "sincerely reflect on" the scandals, which have involved ministries previously falsifying, tampering with, or in other ways covering up official documents.
The Japanese premier said that his ministers needed to improve state officials' compliance regarding the handling of government documents and use electronic technology to avoid falsification when recording the rewriting of documents.
The changes in document handling protocols may also involve the creation of a new position in the Cabinet Office, along the lines of a bureau-chief-level administrator, to personally oversee all the handling at agencies and ministries of state documents, sources close to the matter said.
