国际英语新闻：Brother of Japanese PM to quit LDP, form new party

TOKYO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Kunio Hatoyama, the brother of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, on Monday handed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a letter expressing his intention to quit and form a new political organization.

The resignation is likely to damage both the LDP and its leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, who has in recent weeks been criticized by former Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano and former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe.

"The current LDP cannot alone bring about a major change in Japanese politics," Hatoyama said after tendering his resignation. "

"The LDP's biggest failure is that it was thrown out of power," Hatoyama added. "This country is entering the path of collapse. That cannot be halted by the LDP alone. I decided that it would be good to recruit colleagues ... so I can work hard in a powerful opposition party."

Hatoyama is the sixth member of the LDP to leave the party since it lost an election in the summer last year in a landslide. Analysts that spoke to Xinhua at that time agreed that the electorate was as concerned with "punishing" the LDP as it was with voting in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

The DPJ leader, Yukio Hatoyama, said Monday that he had no intention of working with his brother in the near future. "It's my brother's business, I am not thinking about teaming up with him," the prime minister said.