Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied reports he plans to announce his resignation over a historic defeat of his ruling party in a weekend election, saying instead he wanted to make sure a new tariff agreement with the United States is appropriately implemented.

Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied media reports that he is set to announce his resignation, in an apparent bid to extend his premiership despite an election setback earlier in the week.

By Tim Kelly, Satoshi Sugiyama and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied on Wednesday he had decided to quit after a source and media reports said he planned to announce his resignation to take responsibility for a bruising upper house election defeat.