PM Kishida Promises To Increase Maximum Security Ahead Of The G7 Summit, A Day After The Smoke Bomb Attack

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (Wikimedia Commons/)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed on Sunday to keep world leaders safe during the country's G7 summit, a day after a man threw an object suspected of being a smoke bomb at him during a campaign speech.

"Japan as a whole should seek to provide maximum security during the summit (in Hiroshima next month) and gatherings of other officials from around the world," PM Kishida said on Sunday, in his comments as G7 foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, started a three-day talk in Karizawa City, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan., reported CNN April 16.

On Saturday, PM Kishida had to leave a speech he was delivering in support of candidates from the ruling party in the interim elections in Wakayama, when a small explosive device was thrown at him.

Although PM Kishida was successfully evacuated unharmed, the attack has caused a shockwave in Japan, and drew comparisons with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot in July last year, during a speech in a campaign speech in Nara City, western Japan.

Prior to Abe's death, the Land of the Rising Sun was rarely associated with political violence or gun violence.

It is known that currently campaigns are underway in local elections across Japan, with PM Kishida having returned to campaign to support the Liberal Democratic Party.

Speaking to reporters from his official residence in Tokyo, PM Kishida vowed that the attack would not interfere with the democratic process.

"Violences that occur during general elections, which are the basis of democracy, will never be tolerated," said PM Kishida.

"The important thing is to run this election until the end. It is important for our country and for our democracy that voters are clearly expressed through elections," he said.

Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Saturday police would increase security when Kishida hosted the G7 summit in May, according to a Reuters report.