The former leader of Japan has died after being shot during a speech. Police have a suspect in custody.
Leaders recall “a kind and decent man” who worked to “bring balance” to the world
From CNN staff
Tributes to Shinzo Abe have continued to pour in from politicians around the world, many of whom recalled their visits with the former leader and expressed their shock at his killing.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “Japan has lost a great prime minister.”
“On behalf of the French people, I send my condolences to the Japanese authorities and people after the assassination of Shinzo Abe. Japan has lost a great Prime Minister, who dedicated his life to his country and worked to bring balance to the world,” Macron tweeted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Abe’s assassination “shocking,” and praised Abe as “a leader with great vision” and an “extraordinary partner,” who took US-Japanese relations “to new heights.”
“It’s profoundly disturbing in and of itself, it’s also such a strong personal loss for so many people,” Blinken said Friday.
A number of former leaders who worked with Abe during his time as Japanese prime minister also offered their condolences.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron said Abe was “a good friend personally, a strong partner to the UK, and a thoroughly kind and decent man.” He called his death “devastating and truly shocking.”
Israel’s ex-leader Benjamin Netanyahu said he “will always remember Shinzo Abe and cherish our deep friendship,” while Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French prime minister, called him “a great leader who left his mark on Japan.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Abe’s death “incredibly shocking,” adding that he was “deeply saddened.” Trudeau tweeted, “The world has lost a great man of vision, and Canada has lost a close friend. My thoughts are with his wife, Akie, and the people of Japan as they mourn this loss. You’ll be missed, my friend.”
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called Abe “a brilliant leader” in a tweet Friday. “I receive with extreme indignation and grief the news of the death of @AbeShinzo, a brilliant leader who was a great friend of Brazil. I extend to Abe’s family, as well as to our Japanese brothers, my solidarity and my wish that God watch over their souls in this moment of pain,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent his “deepest condolences” to Abe’s family and the people of Japan. “Horrible news of a brutal assassination of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. I am extending my deepest condolences to his family and the people of Japan at this difficult time. This heinous act of violence has no excuse,” Zelensky tweeted.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said she was “extremely pained” by Abe’s passing, referring to the late leader as “the staunchest friend of Taiwan.” Tsai Ing-wen said Abe was “an old friend” she had known “for more than a decade.”
UN Secretary General António Guterres tweeted his condolences over Abe’s assassination. “I’m deeply saddened by the horrific killing of Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan,” Guterres said. “I had the privilege of knowing him for years & will always remember his collegiality & commitment to multilateralism. My condolences to his family, and the people & Government of Japan.”
Former US President Barack Obama said he’s “shocked and saddened” by Abe’s assassination. In a statement, he recounted the close relationship the two leaders forged during his second term in office and the “extraordinary alliance” between the two nations. In 2016, Obama traveled to Hiroshima with Abe — becoming the first sitting US president to do so — and later that year, Abe returned the gesture, becoming the first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor.
Former US President George W. Bush, who worked with Abe during his first stint as Japanese prime minister in 2006, said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened to learn of the senseless assassination,” adding that “Shinzo Abe was a patriot of his country who wanted to continue serving it.”
Queen Elizabeth II, in a message of condolence to the emperor of Japan, said Abe’s “love for Japan, and his desire to forge ever-closer bonds with the United Kingdom, were clear. I wish to convey my deepest sympathy and condolences to his family and to the people of Japan at this difficult time.”
Japan had only one gun-related death reported in 2021
From CNN’s Mayumi Maruyama in Hong Kong
Japan reported only one death due to firearms in 2021, according to the National Police Agency. A total of 10 firearm-related incidents were reported in the country in 2021 — up from seven in 2020.
Eight of the 10 reported incidents were gang-related, the agency’s report states.
In the past five years, the highest number of firearm-related deaths per year reported in Japan was four.
The data indicates just how rare gun violence is in Japan, which can be credited to its strict gun ownership laws and thorough background check processes.
Read more about Japan’s gun laws here and see how the country’s laws and gun-related homicide rates compare to other nations in the chart below:
Abe assassination will be equivalent to JFK shooting for Japan, former adviser says
Tomohiko Taniguchi, a special adviser to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said Abe was “one of the most transformative leaders” of Japan.
“I think it’s going to be an equivalent of JFK’s assassination day. … It’s been a day of sadness, grief, disbelief, and for me, tremendous anger. People are finding it very much hard to digest the reality. I think it’s very much an isolated event conducted by very much an isolated person. Nonetheless, that isolated incident killed one of the most transformative leaders of the Japanese history,” he said.
He recalled Abe as a kind man and someone who wanted to usher Japan forward.
“He and Mrs. Abe did not have their own child, and he wanted to bring Japan to the younger generations as a country that is prosperous and future-oriented,” he said.
“Once you are befriended with him, you get a lifelong friend,” he added.
Taniguchi was an adviser to Abe from 2013-2014 and wrote foreign policy speeches for the former leader.
“I would very much like to see his legacy lasting, because there are very few options available for Japan. It’s a maritime nation, and it’s sitting on the periphery of a huge land mass which is being dominated by three nuclear power nations — Russia, North Korea, China — none of which is democratic. So Japan badly needs alliance partners like the United States, which Shinzo Abe tried very much hard to do,” he added.
Shootings are extremely rare in Japan because of strict gun ownership laws
From CNN’s Nectar Gan
The shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shocked Japan, which has one of the lowest rates of gun crime in the world due to its extremely strict gun ownership laws.
The suspect in Friday’s shooting used a handmade gun, police said.
Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan.
In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, only reported nine deaths from firearms — compared with 39,740 that year in the United States.
Under Japan’s firearms laws, the only guns permitted for sale are shotguns and air rifles — handguns are outlawed. But getting them is a long and complicated process that requires strenuous effort — and lots of patience.
To buy a gun in Japan, potential buyers must:
- Attend an all-day class
- Pass a written test
- Pass a shooting-range test with an accuracy of at least 95%
- Undergo mental health evaluation and drug tests
- Undergo a rigorous background check — including a review of their criminal record, personal debt, involvement in organized crime and relationships with family and friends.
After obtaining a gun, the owner must register their weapon with police and provide details of where their gun and ammunition is stored, in separate, locked compartments. The gun must be inspected by the police once a year, and gun owners must retake the class and sit an exam every three years to renew their license.
The restrictions have kept the number of private gun owners in Japan extremely low.
Read more here.
Abe assassination suspect admitted to shooting him, police say
From CNN’s Jake Kwon
The suspect in the assassination of Shinzo Abe admitted to shooting the former prime minister, police said at a news conference Friday.
According to Nara-nishi police, Yamagami Tetsuya, a 41-year-old unemployed man, said he holds hatred toward a certain group, which he thought Abe was linked to.
Biden “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened” by Abe’s death
From CNN’s DJ Judd
US President Joe Biden said he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened” by the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday.
“Above all, [Abe] cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service. Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy,” Biden wrote in a statement. “While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.”
Abe maintained a close relationship with the United States during his time as prime minister, traveling with then-President Barack Obama to Pearl Harbor in 2016 and, later that year, becoming the first world leader to meet with then-president elect Donald Trump in New York, just two weeks after his election. As vice president, Biden met with Abe both in Tokyo and Washington.
Earlier Friday, a White House spokesperson told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond that the White House was “shocked and saddened” by Abe’s shooting.
Police are investigating Abe shooting as a murder case
The shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being investigated as a murder case, Nara-nishi police said Friday.
According to police, shooting suspect Yamagami Tetsuya, a 41-year-old unemployed man, said he holds hatred towards a certain group, which he thought Abe was linked to.
Ninety investigators are dedicated to the case, police said.
Police searched the suspect’s apartment at 5:17 p.m. local time, police said, adding that several handmade pistol-like items were confiscated during the raid.
“Abenomics”: Shinzo Abe will be remembered for his grand experiment
In early 2013, Japan’s late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched a grand experiment designed to jolt Japan’s economy out of decades of stagnation. Known as “Abenomics,” it included three so-called arrows: massive monetary stimulus, increased government spending and significant economic reforms.
“Abenomics was, in very simple terms, a throw-it-all, buy-it-all strategy to try and stimulate growth. So, put massive spending into the economy, buy up government bonds, also implement economic reforms,” CNN’s Anna Stewart explained. “It was a way of trying to get mass employment, make people wealthier so they could spend more money, and just try and get the economy ticking.”
“During his premiership, you saw the Bank of Japan push interest rates into negative territory,” she said, adding that such a move was extremely unconventional at the time combined with “huge quantitative easing.”
Since then, such a move has become much more conventional, particularly in recent years since the pandemic with all sorts of central banks around the world — the US Federal reserve, the ECB, the Bank of England — all doing similar moves, she added.
Abenomics was successful as well — at least for the first few years, according to experts, Stewart noted. “Critics would say that not all three arrows were ever fully achieved, and as a result of that, the success was unfortunately, limited.”
“The problem for Japan was how to end what was very loose monetary policy, and also some of the structural issues, particularly with an aging workforce,” Stewart added.
However, the policy also led to record-high government debt and failed to make a lasting dent in decades of deflation, CNN’s Will Ripley reported.
SOON: Police will hold a news conference on Abe’s assassination
Police in Nara, Japan, will hold a news conference on the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe died on Friday after being shot while giving a campaign speech on a street in central Japan, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Abe died from excessive bleeding and was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. local time, doctors at the Nara Medical University hospital said during a news conference on Friday. The doctors said the bullet that killed the former Japanese leader was “deep enough to reach his heart” and a team of 20 medical professionals were unable to stop the bleeding.
Abe went into cardiopulmonary arrest at the site of the shooting and was rushed to hospital in a state of cardiac arrest at 12:20 p.m. local time, doctors said. During surgery, doctors discovered a bullet wound to his neck and a large wound on his heart.
Abe, 67, was the former Liberal Democratic Party leader and Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, holding office from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020, before resigning due to health reasons. Since stepping down, he remained in the public eye and regularly appeared in the media to discuss current affairs.
CNN’s Helen Regan and Junko Ogura contributed reporting to this post.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/shinzo-abe-japan-pm-collapses-nara-07-08-22-intl-hnk/index.html
