TOKYO (TR) – Even at the age of 84, former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara still knows how to garner attention.
Ishihara told a weekly tabloid that former U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to assassinate him while he was in office.
In the May 19 issue of Shukan Post, Ishihara explained to politician Shizuka Kamei in an interview that Obama ordered the hit when the government of Tokyo was attempting to purchase the Senkaku Islands — a disputed territory in the Pacific Ocean sought after by Japan, China and Taiwan for its natural resources — in 2012.
“Why doesn’t America just assassinate [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un already?” Ishihara wondered. “I mean, they killed Gaddafi and Bin laden after careful planning, didn’t they. Assassinations are their specialty. When Tokyo was trying to purchase the Senkaku Islands, Obama told the CIA, ‘Use Chinese people in Japan and kill Ishihara by making it look like a traffic accident.'”
Ishihara, who offered no evidence for his claim regarding Obama, served as Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. During his period in office, he became known for a number of controversial statements, including disparaging comments towards foreigners, gays and the elderly.
In the Shukan Post interview, Ishihara also speculated on what will be the next move by U.S. President Donald Trump in his handling of North Korea, the isolated state that has conducted a number of missile tests in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the U.S. confirmed that a THAAD anti-missile system ha been installed in South Korea.
“Right now, North Korea is probably the only country the world would find acceptable for the United States to drop an atomic bomb on,” Ishihara said. “I don’t think the world would complain even if the leadership of North Korea were to be annihilated by nuclear weapons.”
An “Apocalypse Now”-type mission
After Kamei said that, realistically, a nuclear weapon wouldn’t be able to wipe out both the leadership of North Korea and its army at the same time, Ishihara again raised the prospect of an assassination of Kim Jong-un, speculating on an “Apocalypse Now”-type mission.
“Ever wonder what the U.S. and South Korea are up to during their combined field training exercises?” he asked. “Well, one of the exercises involves cruising up a river in North Korea by boat or small submarine, infiltrating Pyongyang and assassinating the target. Kim Jong-un is very much on guard against that.”
But even if an assassination were carried out, South Korea would become a sea of fire and missiles would be launched toward Japan if the matter isn’t resolved in an instant, Kamei said. If North Korea launched dozens of missiles at once, Aegis destroyers and PAC-3 missile defense systems wouldn’t be able to shoot them all down, meaning a number of missiles would slip past defenses and into Japanese territory.
“Still, an assassination is still the cheapest way,” Ishihara said. “Plus, it’s a method that would allow the Americans to dodge criticism.”
