PM Takaichi Faces Challenges from Defamatory Video Scandal

Tokyo, June 6 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is facing challenges due to a magazine report claiming that her campaign posted videos defaming her rivals on social media during last year’s Liberal Democratic Party presidential election and this year’s House of Representatives election. Although Takaichi denies the report by the Shukan Bunshun weekly, the controversy has intensified with the release of audio recordings allegedly from an online meeting involving the creator of the videos and her secretary. The opposition Centrist Reform Alliance and others are seeking to summon the secretary to the Diet. During a parliamentary meeting on Friday, Takaichi said, “I checked (the audio) late last night, and I found it strange because the person purported to be my secretary spoke briskly in a much higher pitch than when speaking with me.” When asked by a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan if she would protest the magazine report, she said, “I’m running the nation, so I don’t have time for such things.” On April 29, Shukan Bunshun reported that the secretary had conspired with the creator of the defamatory videos to spread them on social media. Since then, Takaichi has squarely denied the allegations. However, follow-up reports have raised concerns within the LDP. “She’s getting dragged into the mud,” said one party member. Takaichi’s statements have changed slightly since the magazine first reported the matter. Initially, she claimed that she and the secretary did not know the video creator. However, after the creator admitted on an internet program to keeping contact with the secretary online, she said, “Neither I nor my secretary had met (the creator).” On Wednesday, Shukan Bunshun released audio purportedly from an online meeting between the video creator and the secretary in December. An opposition lawmaker then asked Takaichi to confirm whether the secretary attended the meeting, but Takaichi fended off the request, saying at a parliamentary meeting on Thursday that she was notified of the request around 3:30 a.m. that day and that she had no intention of subscribing to the magazine to check the audio. However, she was eventually forced to listen to the audio, which the CRA provided with the magazine’s permission. In response to Takaichi’s claim that the voice “sounded unnatural,” the CDP demanded on Friday that the secretary and the video creator be summoned as witnesses at the Diet. Takaichi’s explanation was “not convincing,” CRA leader Junya Ogawa said at a press conference. “It’s becoming a matter of the prime minister’s leadership qualities.” The CRA and other parties are expected to continue grilling the prime minister toward the end of the current Diet session on July 17, including at planned meetings of the budget committees of both Diet chambers later this month and a debate between party leaders in July. “The prime minister, who usually answers questions clearly, has repeatedly given responses unlike her usual ones,” said another LDP member. “It could affect her approval ratings.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]