Posted on 09/13/2003 3:24:52 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Tokyo Governor in Hot Water Over Remarks on Bomb Scare
Thu Sep 11, 9:56 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
TOKYO (Reuters) - Outspoken Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara found himself in hot water on Thursday after saying a senior diplomat who had received a bomb threat deserved it for his perceived soft stance toward North Korea (news - web sites).
Police on Wednesday found what seemed to be a bomb at the home of Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka after someone claiming to belong to a right-wing group called newspapers and said an explosive had been placed there. There were no injuries.
"A bomb was planted there. I think it was deserved," Ishihara said in a speech in Nagoya in central Japan on Wednesday.
Ishihara, a nationalist who is often mentioned as a potential future prime minister, added that Tanaka "is at North Korea's beck and call."
Police have refused to say if the object found at Tanaka's home was really a bomb.
Tanaka is known for his role in setting up Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's historic Pyongyang summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last September, although the deputy minister was criticized by hardline politicians furious over the North's abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago.
Tanaka's boss, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, demanded that Ishihara retract the remarks.
"If they were meant to approve of acts of violence or terrorism, they must be retracted," he told a news conference.
The Asahi Shimbun, a major newspaper, said Ishihara's comments were "tantamount to accepting and inciting terrorism" and called on the governor to apologize.
"Hasn't Ishihara himself deplored a worsening of Tokyo's public safety? Making such comments calls into question his qualifications as governor," the Asahi said in an editorial.
"Ishihara should acknowledge his mistake and apologize," the newspaper said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters Ishihara's remarks were inappropriate. "He is an influential person so I think he should be sufficiently careful," Fukuda said.
Later on Thursday, Ishihara appeared to defend his remarks.
"I don't think planting the bomb was a good thing...But there have been circumstances which have resulted in him (Tanaka) having to face things like that," he said in a speech in central Tokyo.
Tanaka and the Foreign Ministry should be held responsible for not taking appropriate action over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, he said.
Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi also protested.
"The string of remarks by Tokyo Governor Ishihara is unwarrantable, and therefore I make a strong protest," Kawaguchi said in a statement.
Ishihara is no stranger to controversy. Past remarks have targeted women, homosexuals, the handicapped, foreigners and Japan's Asian neighbors, including China.
Actually, one time was on an elevator, briefly chatting, just he and I (about a year after his book came out with Akio Morita on how stupid Americans were). He did not like what I said to him on the elevator.
I guess that you did not wear a headband with "rising sun" on it, while shouting, "Banzai!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.