Japan PM Kishida vows safety of G-7 meetings after ‘smoke bomb’ attack

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a day after escaping an apparent attack, vowed to ensure the safety of Group of Seven (G-7) dignitaries visiting his country, beginning with tighter security for climate ministers gathering in Sapporo. 

“My security has become even heavier this morning. It’s so tight I think it is going to be difficult to go out into the city,” Japan’s Environment Minister, Mr Akihiro Nishimura, said at a hotel in the northern Japanese city where he was hosting his G-7 counterparts. 

Bodyguards bundled Mr Kishida to safety on Saturday after a

man threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb

at him during an election campaign stop at a fishing port in western Japan.

Heightened security “reflects an increasing challenge of being in politics these days”, said Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. 

“Unfortunately, I think that some of this has to do with the social media and some of the misinformation which spreads online,” he told Reuters in Sapporo in northern Japan, where G-7 climate and energy ministers were meeting.

The suspect in Saturday’s incident, identified by police as 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura, was also carrying a knife when he was arrested, as well as a possible second explosive device he dropped at the scene after bystanders and police tackled him, Kyodo news agency reported. 

No motive for the apparent attack, in which media said one police officer was slightly injured, has been announced. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Kishida said Japan must not allow acts of violence that attack the foundation of democracy. “At a time when high-ranking officials from all over the world are visiting... Japan as a whole needs to maximise its efforts to ensure security and safety,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“It’s unforgivable such a violent act was committed during an election campaign,” he added. 

His bomb scare in Wakayama prefecture, near Osaka, was an eerie reminder of the

assassination in July 2022 of former prime minister Shinzo Abe,

who was shot with a homemade gun while campaigning for a parliamentary election.

Mr Abe’s killing shocked Japan, where gun crimes are exceedingly rare, and prompted a review of security for politicians, who routinely mingle with the public. 

Japanese politicians are campaigning for by-elections on April 23 for the Lower House of Parliament.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Saturday that police have been instructed to boost security, and the government would do what is necessary to ensure security when Mr Kishida hosts the May G-7 summit in Hiroshima.

“As politicians, we have to go out and campaign sometimes – it means we have to be exposed to the public,” Britain’s Secretary of State for Energy Security, Mr Grant Shapps, told Reuters in Sapporo.

“But I am quite sure that in the context of the G-7 with our prime minister and other world leaders coming to Japan, we are perfectly safe,” he said.

G-7 foreign ministers gathered on Sunday for a meeting in the resort city of Karuizawa. REUTERS, AFP