TOKYO (AP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denounced a pipe bomb attack at a campaign event he attended last weekend and pledged to review security procedures to ensure safety for dignitaries visiting the country for the Group of Seven (G7) summit he will host in May.
“No matter what the reason is, the use of violence to shut down free speech should never be tolerated,” Kishida told selected media from G-7 countries yesterday at the Prime Minister’s Office, as he stressed that the attack occurred during a nationwide local election campaign.
“The election, which is the foundation of democracy, should not succumb to violence. We must carry out the election until the end,” he said, explaining why he has continued to deliver speeches since the attack last Saturday.
A man hurled a pipe bomb at Kishida at the fishing port of Saikazaki in the western prefecture of Wakayana just before he was to make a campaign speech for a local candidate from his governing party. The moment the explosive fell near him, he was pushed away by special police and evacuated unhurt before the bomb exploded.
The alleged attacker, Ryuji Kimura, 24, was wrestled to the ground and arrested on the spot.
The attack, which targetted the prime minister less than a year after former leader Shinzo Abe’s assassination, raised questions about whether any lessons had been learned from Abe’s case, especially as Japan navigates key events like the ongoing elections and G7 meetings.
“As we prepare to welcome many guests from around the world for the G7 summit and other events, I feel it is very important to once again review our security measures so that our guests can visit Japan with a sense of safety,” Kishida said.
During the May 19-21 summit in his electoral constituency of Hiroshima – the target of the world’s first atomic attack – Kishida plans to appeal for nuclear disarmament, while pledging support for the rules-based international order and vowing to play a greater role as the only Asian member of the G7 to bridge Western economies with the so-called Global South nations. He will also demand that Russia stop the war on Ukraine immediately.
“I feel our path toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons has become an increasingly difficult one,” said Kishida, who has made the goal his career aim.
“But that makes our cause more important than ever, and we must keep raising the flag of the ideal to achieve a nuclear-free world and reverse the ongoing trend.”
