TOKYO, Oct. 20 -- Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi on Monday announced her resignation over misuse of political funds, marking the first cabinet minister quits from its post since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in December 2012.

Abe has accepted Obuchi's resignation that filed early Monday at the prime minister official residence, Japan's Kyodo News quoted unnamed government officials that close to the matter as reporting.

Local reports said that Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi will temporarily double the trade minister after 40-year- old Obuchi handed the resignation letter early Monday to Abe in effort to take the responsibility for the scandal.

The appointment of Obuchi to the post in early September, along with other female ministers, was seen as efforts to walk Abe's words on his "womenomics" that aims at improving women workforce in Japan so as to revitalize Japan's prolonged sluggish economy.

Saying at a press conference at the Trade Ministry after the resignation, Obuchi said that she failed to properly oversee her support groups and suspicions over her financial reports remains.

Obuchi, who declined to resign from a Diet member, said that probe over her fund scandal will continue and outside experts will check her past financial reports.

The minister's political fund reports were found contained large shortage of for theater outing related to her cabinet appointee's activities and money irregularly used to a design office and clothing shop run by her relatives.

Obuchi, a daughter of a former prime minister, was elected from a single-seat constituency in Gunma Prefecture and is seen as a rising candidate for Japan's future leader.

Local reports said that the resignation of Obuchi would be a thump to the Abe's administration as the issue may continue to ferment and make other minister who has trapped in scandals, such as Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, under spotlights.

A senior official of the Japan's major opposition Democratic Party of Japan filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors on Friday against Matsushima for alleged election law violation, according to Kyodo reports.

Abe ushered in five female ministers, including Obuchi and Matsushima, during his cabinet reshuffle in early September in efforts to make his cabinet as a test field for promoting women's status and involvement in the society and workplace.

However, the appointments of the female ministers were questioned especially after the rest three of them, namely Takaichi, Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission Eriko Yamatani and Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of promoting women's active participation, on Saturday visited notorious war- linked Yasukuni Shrine, a move would further jeopardize Japan's relations with its neighboring China and South Korea.

A latest poll released Sunday said that the support rate for Abe's cabinet plunged over 6 percent to 48.1 percent from the previous one conducted immediately after the cabinet reshuffle in early September, while the disapproval rate for the cabinet surged from 29 percent to 40.2 percent.

The poll also showed that the support rate for Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has slipped to 36.9 percent from 42 percent in last month.