Japan’s House of Councilors elections are currently underway at this time as former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed during a campaign for the House of Councilors.
The ruling coalition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Gongmyung Party, are expected to easily maintain a majority in the seats, but the election results are also expected to affect South Korea-Japan relations.
We will contact the International Department for more information. Reporter Won-bae Kim!
Voting for the Japanese House of Councilors is underway?
[기자]
Yes, it is.
Voting in Japan’s House of Councilors election is being held across Japan from 7 am today (10th) in our time.
Voting closes today (10th) at 8:00 pm from our time, and the exit poll results will be announced at the same time as the voting closes.
The case in which former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed during a rally on the 8th is attracting attention as to whether this will affect the House of Councilors election.
The Japanese media predicted that the coalition ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito Party would easily maintain a majority in the election, which is considered a mid-term evaluation of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The number of seats in the House of Representatives in Japan is 248, but 125 are elected in this election.
According to the results of a poll conducted this month by the Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito Party are expected to win at least 63 seats and a maximum of 80 seats out of the 125 newly elected.
With three years remaining in office, the ruling party has 70 seats, including 56 seats from the LDP and 14 seats from the Gongmyung Party.
Accordingly, it is expected that, if the number of seats of the LDP and the Gongmyung Party are combined following this election, it will be easy to maintain a majority of 125 seats, from a minimum of 133 to a maximum of 151.
Prime Minister Kishida, who also serves as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, said that winning or losing is the criterion for maintaining a majority of the ruling coalition’s ruling party.
If Prime Minister Kishida wins this election following the House of Representatives election in October last year, it will lay the foundation for stable state affairs.
Prime Minister Kishida’s position according to the election results is expected to affect Korea-Japan relations as the Yun Seok-yeol administration began to take steps to improve relations between Korea and Japan.
[앵커]
Even following this election, it is predicted that the supporters of constitutional amendment will retain two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, right?
[기자]
Yes, as security threats grew due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s advance into the sea, and North Korea’s missile launch, Japan’s strengthening of defense capabilities and constitutional amendment emerged as a key issue in the House of Representatives election.
In order to propose a constitutional amendment, two-thirds or more of each of the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives must agree.
Currently, both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors have more than two-thirds of the power to amend the constitution.
Four political parties, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Gongmyung Party, the Japan Restoration Party, and the National Democratic Party, and some independent lawmakers are classified as constitutional reforming forces.
If the constitutional reform force secures 82 seats or more in this election for the House of Representatives, which will elect 125 new seats, the House of Councilors will also retain more than 166 seats, which is two-thirds of the total seats.
The Yomiuri Shimbun predicted that the four political parties would occupy between 78 and 104 seats, the Asahi Shimbun between 80 and 103 seats, and the Mainichi Shimbun between 76 and 103 seats, respectively.
It is expected that even following this election, the constitutional reform forces are highly likely to retain more than two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives.
[앵커]
I decided to commit the crime when I saw Abe sending a video message to the religion my mother was missing, the suspect in the murder of Abe said this?
[앵커]
Yes. This is the Yomiuri Shimbun report.
Tetsuya Yamagami, a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, mentioned the name of a specific religious group during a police investigation and stated, “My mother is a believer and has donated a large amount of money to go bankrupt.”
Yamagami said he initially aimed at the leader of the religious group, but when access became difficult, he believed that “Abe spread this religion in Japan” and changed the target of the murder to Abe.
Yamagami explained that the reason for the killing of Abe was “not because of a grudge once morest Abe’s political creeds.”
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, this group is a religion that originated in a foreign country, not Japan, and on the Internet there is a video of Abe’s video message sent to an event of a private activist group established by the group’s representatives.
According to the religious group, Yamagami’s mother is registered as a member of this religion.
A public relations official for this religious group told the Tokyo Shimbun, “It is certain that Yamagami’s mother has been a believer for a long time, but she does not know regarding the financial situation.”
According to the Asahi Shimbun, Yamagami’s father ran a construction company, but when Yamagami died suddenly when he was young, his mother took over the company.
Since then, it is known that the mother paid a lot of money to religious groups while working hard in religious activities.
It is said that the three children, including Yamagami, even called relatives, saying, “There is nothing to eat at home,” perhaps because of the influence of her mother’s large donations.
According to investigative officials, Yamagami’s mother was declared bankrupt by the Nara District Court in 2002, and her construction company also closed in 2009.
Yamagami’s relatives told the Asahi Shimbun that “Yamagami must have continued to resent the religious group.”
So far, it has been delivered by the International Department.
YTN Wonbae Kim ([email protected])
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