By NEN SATOMI/ Staff Writer
February 20, 2023 at 15:20 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida responds to reporters in Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, on Feb. 19. (Pool)
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida defended not canceling his hospital appointment on Feb. 18 amid the launch of a North Korean ballistic missile that eventually landed in waters inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
“I was perfectly ready to handle the situation from the hospital,” Kishida said on Feb. 19, insisting that he remained fully conscious during the treatment and could communicate with government officials.
The prime minister was visiting the hospital in Tokyo for a follow-up check on the sinus surgery he had a week earlier.
He made the comment in Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, where he was visiting local communities to discuss child care policies.
The missile was launched at around 5:21 p.m. from near Pyongyang. The prime minister received the first report of the incident just before he arrived at the hospital at 5:41 p.m.
The projectile flew more than an hour before splashing down in Japan’s EEZ off the northern island of Hokkaido at around 6:27 p.m., two minutes before Kishida left the hospital. He arrived at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo at 6:49 p.m.
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