Tokyo Police Search SDF Base over Chinese Embassy Trespassing

Ebino, Miyazaki Pref., March 29 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department on Sunday searched locations related to a Ground Self-Defense Force member accused of trespassing into the the Chinese Embassy in the Japanese capital this month, according to informed sources. The locations included a GSDF base in the city of Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, where the trespassing suspect, Second Lieutenant Kodai Murata, 23, was stationed. At around 8 a.m., two vehicles carrying MPD investigators entered the GSDF base. According to the Defense Ministry, Murata lived on the base. On Tuesday, Murata was arrested after entering the premises of the Chinese Embassy alone and seeking to meet the Chinese ambassador. Based on his account, an apparent 18-centimeter kitchen knife was found in the bushes on the embassy grounds. According to police sources, he said after his arrest that he planned to ask the ambassador to refrain from making hardline remarks against Japan, and that, if his demand was rejected, he intended to commit suicide with the knife. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]