FILE PHOTO - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and his wife Akie at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized on Monday after the finance ministry acknowledged it had altered documents related to a suspected cronyism scandal, adding that he felt responsibility.

References to Abe, his wife and Finance Minister Taro Aso had been removed from the documents related to a land sale, according to copies seen by Reuters on Monday.

Abe told reporters he wanted Finance Minister Taro Aso to fulfill his responsibility by clarifying the facts of the alterations.