Photo/Illutration Police seize a man suspected of throwing a pipe bomb at a Wakayama city fishing port where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was scheduled to speak on April 15. (Nen Satomi)

Executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reacted in shock April 15 to the arrest of a young man in Wakayama suspected of throwing an apparent pipe bomb at the site where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was due to give a speech.

LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi issued a statement in which he explained he had been in contact with the prime minister, who was unhurt after being escorted to safety by security police.

“This was an outrageous act coming during a campaign that lies at the very foundation of our democracy,” Motegi said in a statement.

Tsuyoshi Takagi, chairman of the LDP Diet Affairs Committee, told a reporter from The Asahi Shimbun, “This was an unforgivable act that could shake the very roots of our democracy since it happened during a campaign.”

LDP officials clearly had in mind the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe less than year ago while giving a campaign speech in Nara city.

Kishida was scheduled to give a speech on behalf of the LDP candidate running in the Wakayama No. 1 district by-election.

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