Takeo Akiba. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's national security adviser Shigeru Kitamura is to retire from the country's top security post for health reasons, the government said Tuesday.

       The head of Japan's National Security Secretariat will be succeeded on Wednesday by 62-year-old former Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba, a close aide to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his predecessor Shinzo Abe.

       The personnel change sees a diplomat back in the post again for the first time since Shotaro Yachi, a former vice foreign minister who became the first head of the secretariat in 2014 before stepping down in 2019.

       The secretariat assists the National Security Council, which was launched by Abe in 2013 as the command base for Japan's foreign and security policies. Under Abe's administration, the prime minister's office spearheaded matters of diplomacy.

       Kitamura, 64, a former National Police Agency official, served as an executive secretary to Abe during his first stint as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 before becoming the head of the secretariat in September 2019, replacing Yachi.

       In December, Kitamura was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by the United States for his contributions to strengthening bilateral alliance and regional cooperation under the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

       Akiba became vice foreign minister in January 2018 and has been responsible for behind-the-scene negotiations with the United States and China.

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