The international community and Japan are shocked. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on Friday after being attacked during a campaign rally in Nara, western Japan. As Japanese police began a search of the suspect’s home this morning, 20 Minutes returns to the assassination attempt on the former Japanese prime minister.
What happened this Friday in Nara, Japan?
Japan’s 67-year-old former chief executive officer Shinzo Abe was speaking on Friday at a campaign rally ahead of Sunday’s Senate election when gunfire was heard, national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news agency reported. Shinzo Abe collapsed and was bleeding from the neck, a source from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) told Jiji News Agency. The politician showed no sign of life on site.
“He was giving a speech and a man came from behind,” a young woman at the scene told NHK. “The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn’t fall and there was a big bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke, she added. After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him cardiac massage. »
Shinzo Abe finally died this Friday. “Shinzo Abe was taken (to the hospital) at 12:20 p.m. When he arrived he was in a state of cardiac arrest. (The doctors tried to revive him. Unfortunately, he passed away at 5:03 p.m.,” said Hidetada Fukushima, professor of emergency medicine at Nara Medical University Hospital. Japan hasn’t seen anything like this “for more than fifty to sixty years,” said Corey Wallace, a senior lecturer at Kanagawa University and a specialist in Japanese politics. According to him, the last similar incident in Japan was the 1960 assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japanese Socialist Party, who was stabbed by a far-right student.
Who is the man suspected of shooting Shinzo Abe?
A man was arrested for “attempted murder” within hours of the attack on Shinzo Abe, Japanese media reported. Citing police sources, state broadcaster NHK said the suspect appeared to be in his 40s and a gun had been confiscated.
The local police could not immediately make a statement. Local PLD officials said they received no threat before the attack and that Sinzo Abe’s speech was publicly announced.
Where is the investigation?
Japanese police entered the home of the suspect in the shooting attack on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Nara (west) this morning, according to images released by public broadcaster NHK. Footage showed several police officers wearing riot gear, helmets and shields entering a building identified by NHK as the home of the man arrested for attempted murder shortly after the attack.
What are the reactions of the international community?
A large segment of world leaders spoke out in support of the former Japanese prime minister this morning. Starting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he was “deeply shocked by the heinous attack”.
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China also said it was “shocked” by the attempted murder and expressed “sympathy” for his family. Ditto for the United States, through the voice of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said he was “deeply concerned” by such an attack. European Council President Charles Michel said he was “shocked and saddened by Thursday’s cowardly attack” on the former Japanese prime minister, whom he described as a “true friend, a fierce defender of the multilateral order and democratic values”.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that he was “deeply shocked” by a “heinous” attack and assured that the alliance, of which Tokyo is a close ally, “stands by” the Japanese and their government. The future British ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson also expressed his “dismay and sadness” about the “pathetic” exchange of fire against Shinzo Abe this Friday.
Finally, referring to the attack, Russia condemned “a monstrous crime” and an “act of terrorism”. “We are confident that those who orchestrated and committed this egregious crime will be duly punished for this act of terrorism, which has and cannot have justification,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Who was Shinzo Abe?
Shinzo Abe was 52 when he first became prime minister in 2006, the youngest in his country’s post-war period. He impressed in his second term (2012-2020) with bold economic recovery policies and intense diplomatic activity, which, however, left a deep sense of incompleteness.
Shinzo Abe is best known abroad for his economic policy called “Abenomics”, which he launched at the end of 2012 and combines monetary easing, massive fiscal stimulus and structural reforms. It has had some successes, such as a significant increase in the labor force participation rates of women and the elderly, and increased reliance on immigration to address labor shortages.
Shinzo Abe, on December 16, 2022 in Tokyo. – Kunihiko Miura/AP/SIPA
Abe, who had built part of his reputation on his steadfastness towards North Korea, also advocated a Japan uninhibited by its past: in particular, he refused to shoulder the burden of remorse for the Japanese army’s mistreatment in China and so on Korean peninsula in the first half of the 20th century. The politician also tried not to offend Russian President Vladimir Putin. His hope? Settle disputes over the southern Kuril Islands, annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II and never returned to Japan.