Ishihara says Tanaka deserved bomb threat

[Troll Basher]

(I can't believe this scumbag Ishihara is an elected official)



Ishihara says Tanaka deserved bomb threat


Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 03:00 JST
NAGOYA — Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara said Wednesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka deserved to receive a bomb threat at his home earlier in the day because his attitude toward North Korea is too soft.

"A bomb was planted there. I think it was deserved," Ishihara said in a speech in Nagoya. Tanaka "is at North Korea's beck and call," the Tokyo governor said.

Ishihara also criticized Tanaka for attempting to keep some of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's comments to U.S. President George Bush private after summit talks in May on how to deal with the North's nuclear development program. Tanaka joined the Koizumi-Bush meeting in Texas.

"Prime Minister Koizumi said to Bush that problems related to North Korea are unforgivable and proposed imposing a little pressure" on the country, Ishihara said.

But Tanaka "tried to delete the word pressure from a statement" after the talks, Ishihara said. A government source said earlier Tanaka in fact did so out of fear that Pyongyang would strongly react to such a word.

"Such a bureaucrat cannot control the government's operations to deal with North Korea by himself," Ishihara said.

Tanaka played a key role in realizing a historic summit meeting between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last year.

The Tokyo governor gave the speech while stumping for Shizuka Kamei, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who is running in the Sept 20 race for party president.

Police said they found a suspected bomb inside the garage on the ground floor of Tanaka's home in Tokyo early Wednesday. No one was injured, they added. (Kyodo News)

[Vapour]

If you list up his other outrageous quotes, you would think Tokoy is Jap version of Klansmen state.

[Troll Basher]

If anyone has read anything about Ishihara's views on foreigners in Japan it's needless to say his thoughts are a little more than disturbing.

[Troll Basher]

Ishihara unrepentant over bomb barb

By JUNKO TAKAHASHI
Staff writer

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara remained unrepentant Thursday about his remark that Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka "deserved" the bomb that was placed in his garage, saying the act reflects public anger toward the bureaucrat's stance on North Korea.
"I am not saying that a man should be killed, but I am saying there is a reason that he faced such an incident," Ishihara said outside Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo while stumping for Shizuka Kamei, one of the candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election.

Tanaka is the key government official for negotiations and policymaking on North Korea. His secretive approach and emphasis on dialogue with Pyongyang has often been criticized as being too soft.

Despite a barrage of criticism that his earlier remark condones acts of terrorism, Ishihara ramped up his attack on Tanaka.

When compiling the record of talks between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush in May on how the two countries should deal with North Korea, according to Ishihara, Tanaka wanted to strike from the document any mention of pressuring the reclusive state.

"He has been lying to the people," Ishihara said. "People are angry and that's why the (bomb) incident occurred.

"He deserves it," the governor said again, drawing applause from his audience.

Koizumi meanwhile strongly criticized Ishihara's remark, calling the outburst "extremely inappropriate" during Thursday's open debate session for the LDP election at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.

"Mr. Tanaka is one of the senior Foreign Ministry diplomats I trust," Koizumi said. Asked if Tanaka is blocking his efforts to put pressure on Pyongyang, the prime minister said: "Not at all. He is not weak toward North Korea."

The Japan Times: Sept. 12, 2003
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