Former Japanese leader shot
Man arrested, Japan in shock
Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a campaign speech yesterday afternoon in western Japan and was airlifted to a hospital but he was not breathing and his heart had stopped, officials said.
Local fire department official Makoto Morimoto said Abe’s heart stopped while he was being airlifted to a prefectural hospital.
His condition was not confirmed at the time of print. However, last night Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe was in a “severe condition” after being shot and he was hoping Abe would survive.
Kishida, who belongs to the same political party as Abe, spoke to reporters at the prime minister’s office, saying Abe was receiving utmost medical treatment.
“I’m praying for former prime minister Abe’s survival from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Kishida called the attack “dastardly and barbaric” and that the crime during the election campaign, which is the foundation of
democracy, is absolutely unforgivable.
Police arrested a male suspect at the scene of the shooting in Nara.
NHK public broadcaster aired footage showing Abe collapsed on the street, with several security guards running toward him, He was bleeding and holding his chest. Abe was in Nara campaigning ahead of today’s election for the parliament’s upper house and was giving a speech when people heard a gunshot.
The attack was a shock in a country that’s one of the world’s safest and with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020, when he was forced to step down due to the debilitating bowel condition ulcerative colitis.
He told reporters at the time that it was “gut wrenching” to leave many of his goals unfinished. He spoke of his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia and a revision of Japan’s war-renouncing constitution.
That last goal was a big reason he was such a divisive figure.
His ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China, and his push to normalise Japan’s defence posture angered many Japanese.
Abe failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the Usdrafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support. Abe is a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel expressed sadness and shock at the shooting.
“Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the US. The US Government and American people are praying for the wellbeing of Abe-san, his family, and people of Japan,” he said on Twitter.
Agencies