TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police last week arrested a member of a right-wing group for alleging possessing an axe that he threw at the North Korean-connected Chongryon headquarters in the capital earlier this month, reports TBS News (Mar. 25).
Hidekatsu Kaneko is a 53-year-year old member of uyoku dantai group Council of Nationalist Organizations.
At around 12:35 p.m. on March 19, Kaneko allegedly threw the axe at the headquarters of Chongryon in Chiyoda Ward. “You bastard!” he reportedly shouted as he let the weapon — with a blade measuring 10 centimeters in length — fly towards the grounds of the headquartesr.
The axe flew over the outer wall and landed between the wall and a building. Nobody was injured in the incident, police said.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law, Kaneko admitted to the allegations.
“Even though I sent protest letters to Chongryon several times, they didn’t stop launching missiles at all, so I thought they would understand if I threw an axe,” he said.
After the incident, riot police officers who were on patrol in the area apprehended Kaneko.
Chongryon
On March 25, Tokyo police searched the office of another right-wing group in Futtsu City, Chiba Prefecture due to its possible connection to to Kaneko.
Chongryon is known as the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. Though there are no diplomatic relations between North Korea and Japan it functions as North Korea’s de facto embassy in Japan.
According to police, Kaneko had previously participated in protests and demonstrations on topics such as North Korea’s missile launches and territorial disputes with other countries.
