Japan PM survives assassination attempt during speech, suspect arrested

On Saturday, April 15, a loud explosion occurred at a port in western Japan when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was at the scene, but no one was hurt.

The Incident

Mr Kishida travelled to Wakayama prefecture to support his ruling party’s candidate in a local election. There was an explosion only moments before he was set to start his speech.

As per NDTV, a guy thought to be a suspect was detained on the site, and footage showed many uniformed and plainclothes police officers surrounding the man and pushing him to the ground.

The incident transpired just nine months after Kishida’s predecessor, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was killed while giving a campaign address. It was not immediately officially confirmed, and the local police declined to comment.

PM Abe

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was an unlikely victim, and his murder on July 8 was a surprising and horrifying turn of events for the country’s longest-serving leader and a well-known international diplomat.

The killing has drawn attention to a religious movement with long-standing links to the governing party and government of Japan, which was the apparent object of the claimed assassin’s rage.

Hak Ja Han Moon, the Unification Church’s leader and its founder’s wife, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, was allegedly the original target. 

After former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s murder, Japan strengthened its security. Hence, this recent incident occurring while Japan prepared for the May leaders’ summit in Hiroshima by hosting G7 ministerial meetings in northern Sapporo and the Nagano city of Karuizawa was quite a surprise.

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