PM Takaichi Faces Challenges from Defamatory Video Scandal

Tokyo, June 6 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration is facing challenges due to a magazine report claiming that her campaign posted videos defaming her rivals on social media during last year's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election and this year's House of Representatives election.

Although Takaichi denies the report by the Shukan Bunshun weekly, the controversy has intensified with the release of audio recordings allegedly from an online meeting involving the creator of the videos and her secretary.

The opposition Centrist Reform Alliance and others are seeking to summon the secretary to the Diet.

During a parliamentary meeting on Friday, Takaichi said, "I checked (the audio) late last night, and I found it strange because the person purported to be my secretary spoke briskly in a much higher pitch than when speaking with me."

When asked by a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan if she would protest the magazine report, she said, "I'm running the nation, so I don't have time for such things."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]