Japan urges security 'vigilance' after Trump shooting

TOKYO: Japan's national police agency has issued a reminder to ensure proper security at public events involving politicians following the shooting of Donald Trump, the government said Tuesday.

The attempted assassination of the former US president on Saturday brought back memories in Japan of the traumatising 2022 killing of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

The attempt on Trump's life prompted Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) to "instruct police forces nationwide to renew their vigilance in the vicinity of stump speech sites", top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

Japan has been ratcheting up its VIP security measures since the deadly shooting of Abe, which blindsided police in a nation where gun violence is extremely rare.

It eventually led to the resignation of the NPA chief, Itaru Nakamura, after he admitted there were "shortcomings in the security plans and the risk assessments on which they were based".

Less than a year later, an explosive was hurled toward Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister, on the campaign trail just as Japan was hosting two G7 ministerial meetings.

Kishida survived the attack unscathed, but it was nonetheless a sobering reminder of "how the sites of stump speeches by high-ranking officials can become dangerous places," Hayashi said.

He also echoed Kishida's comments on Sunday condemning the attack on Trump as an "intolerable act of violence that challenges democracy".

"We must be resolute and stand up against it," he said.