Japanese PM Fumio Kishida narrowly escaped an attack on Saturday in the western city of Wakayama, where he was due to give a speech during an election rally.
Security personnel jumped onto Kishida and dragged him away from a smoking metal cylinder, which landed within a metre of him and exploded seconds after. The explosion caused minor injuries to two people in the vicinity.
Police officers and bystanders jointly subdued a suspect, who, police informed, also possessed another similar device in his backpack, along with a knife that had a 13cm blade.
WATCH: A smoke bomb is thrown toward #Japan's prime minister, #FumioKishida, who was swiftly protected by his security guards. The attempted attack occurred during a campaign event in #Wakayama on Saturday. #Kishida #ShinzoAbe #G7 pic.twitter.com/MDTKHIfm27
— Statecraft (@statecraftdaily) April 17, 2023
Motive
While the attack’s motive remains unclear, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on Tuesday that the suspect had previously sued the government for being unfairly barred from running for an Upper House election.
According to state records, 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura sought ¥100,000 ($745) in damages for his mental anguish after the country’s election law barred him from running in an election due to his age and inability to prepare a ¥3 million ($22,339) deposit.
G7
The attack came amid the G7’s environment ministers attending a summit in Sapporo and the grouping’s foreign ministers meeting in Karuizawa in the Nagano prefecture during the same weekend.
Japan is also preparing to host a full G7 summit in Hiroshima — Kishida’s home constituency — next month.
Japan's PM Fumio Kishida, a day after he was evacuated from an apparent attack, vows to do everything possible to ensure the safety of G7 leaders and senior ministers visiting his country through next month pic.twitter.com/pypIlgvHx8
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) April 16, 2023
Security Lapses Continue
The latest attack on the PM has once again brought the country’s security mechanisms under fire, as it occurred only months after the assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe at a political rally in Nara.
Yoichi Shimada, a professor of politics at Fukui Prefectural University, said it was “obvious that the lessons of Abe’s assassination have not been learned,” as “security checks on those attending the event were too loose and there are so many parallels with the killing of Abe.”
“If that homemade bomb had exploded, then Kishida could very easily have been badly injured or killed. This is quite clearly a grave mistake on the part of the police once again,” he said.
The expert stressed that the latest incident represented “another serious lapse by the police”.