Japan PM urges better security after blast targets speech

TOKYO: Japan needs to increase security as Group of Seven officials visit, the country´s prime minister said on Sunday, a day after an explosive was thrown at him during a campaign event.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped unharmed after the device, reportedly a pipe bomb, was thrown towards him as he campaigned in the western city of Wakayama on Saturday. A 24-year-old man was arrested, but has so far revealed nothing about his motives in the attack, which came as Japan hosts two G7 ministerial meetings.

“At a time when high-ranking officials from all over the world are visiting... Japan as a whole needs to maximise its efforts to ensure security and safety,” Kishida told reporters on Sunday. “It´s unforgivable such a violent act was committed during an election campaign,” he added.

He said he expected police to step up security measures in the wake of the incident, which came less than a year after Japan´s former prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a gunman in the western city of Nara. His killing sent shockwaves through the country, and prompted an overhaul of security around public officials.