Japanese former PM sues Abe

Source:AFP Published: 2013-7-16 23:33:01

Japan's former prime minister, Naoto Kan said Tuesday he was suing current prime minister Shinzo Abe for defamation over online comments about the way the Fukushima crisis was handled.

Less than a week to go before upper house elections, Kan, now in the opposition, said on his official website he would be taking legal action against Abe.

Kan's office has said in the days immediately after a massive tsunami swamped Fukushima in March 2011, his government pressed plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to use seawater to cool overheating reactors and prevent a catastrophe.

TEPCO subsequently said Kan had wavered on allowing seawater to be used.

Kan's statement says Abe has repeated this claim.

"Abe in his email magazine ran a story entitled 'Mr. Kan's instructions on using seawater (to cool reactors) are made-up,' and ignored my request for a correction and apology," Kan said.

Abe "is responsible for carrying out a fair election campaign. I strongly demand he immediately admit his misconduct, delete the stories and apologize for this," Kan said.

Management of the crisis at Fukushima, the world's worst atomic disaster in a generation, has been picked over in the more than two years since the tsunami rolled ashore.

Last year, an independent panel on the Fukushima disaster said Kan played a key role in preventing the crisis from worsening further.

The panel said that as the situation on Japan's tsunami-wrecked coast deteriorated, TEPCO wanted to abandon the plant and evacuate its workers, but that Kan had ordered them to keep their men on site.

AFP

Posted in: Asia-Pacific

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