Japanese PM faces fresh headache over Iraq records scandal

日 자위대 ‘은폐 위한 은폐’ 탄로…”문민통제 깨졌다”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in hot waters, over an alleged cover up of documents relating to troops his country sent to Iraq over a decade ago.
This comes on top of harsh criticims he face over a cronyism scandal.
Ro Aram has the full story.

On Wednesday Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the army last year found activity logs from a controversial 2004 to 2006 deployment to Iraq, but failed to report them to his predecessor, Tomomi Inada.
Inada had told parliament early last year that the documents could not be found, but it turned out they were in the Self Defense Forces' possession at the time.
Inada was being grilled by lawmakers over a mishandling of another set of records related to the Japanese army's peace-keeping mission in South Sudan.
That scandal forced Inada to resign last July.
The failure to disclose the Iraq records has again raised suspicions of a cover-up by the Abe government to avoid further controversy about the deployment.
Between 2004 and 2006, thousands of Japanese troops were sent to Iraq for what the army called reconstruction and humanitarian activities.
It insisted the mission took place in a non-conflict zone to avoid violating Japan's pacifist constitution.
But experts believe the area was a conflict zone, stirring debate in Japan about whether the country took part in a war or not.
The undisclosed activity logs could have shed light on the conditions in the area at the time.
The head of Japan's SDF issued an apology on Thursday for the delay in the reporting of the records, reassuring the public that the SDF remains under civilian control.
The issue is another headache for Abe, who is already embroiled in multiple scandals and suffering from poor approval ratings.
Civic groups also gathered outside Japan's Diet on Thursday, demanding Abe's resignation.
If the poor ratings continue, then his chances of winning a third term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a September vote looks slim.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.

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