Japan MP quits over 'degree' row

Tearful Koga promised to work hard "to pay the people back"

A lawmaker has quit Japan's main opposition party in a row over his academic credentials.

Lower House MP Junichiro Koga admitted that he never graduated from a US university - as he had claimed in his successful campaign last November.

But Mr Koga, 45, said he would continue "working as a politician", pledging to give up his lawmaker's salary.

Analysts said his resignation would be a blow to the Democratic Party, which made big gains in last year's poll.

"I am terribly sorry," a visibly emotional Mr Koga said in a speech in his constituency of Fukuoka on the south-western island of Kyushu.

"I will give up my party membership so I won't cause the party any more trouble," he said.

Mr Koga's academic background was cast into doubt earlier this year when local media reported that he attended Pepperdine University in California from 1978 to 1982, but did not graduate.

Mr Koga, a former professional tennis player, vigorously disputed the claims and last week made a highly publicised trip to the US to investigate the issue.

But after returning home he said he "found out that I did not have 19 credits necessary for my degree".

Mr Koga, however, insisted the he did not deliberately mislead voters - an offence punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine of 300,000 yen ($2,830).

Some lawmakers from Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party said the issue was by no means resolved and vowed to press for Mr Koga's resignation from parliament.