Takaichi declines to confirm alleged smear video audio, irking opposition

TOKYO — Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday declined an opposition lawmaker's request to listen to audio relating to reports alleging her office made anonymous videos smearing political opponents, drawing opposition ire.

Takaichi cited a full schedule and objections to subscribing to the magazine behind the reports in rejecting the Centrist Reform Alliance lawmaker's request regarding a recorded conversation that reportedly showed her publicly funded first secretary speaking with a man who has claimed to have made the videos.

Reacting to the exchange, Junya Ogawa, leader of the House of Representatives' largest opposition CRA, said it "may be necessary to summon her secretary before the committee if we do not receive a sincere answer." He added it "raised doubts" about her judgment in handling politically inconvenient issues.

The request to listen to the audio published by weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun on Wednesday came after the prime minister previously told reporters she "would not know" if the two men had met.

After requesting and reviewing a transcript instead, the prime minister said it was "not a conversation about creating the videos cited in the weekly magazine's reports."

The events in parliament marked the latest response by the prime minister to the reports first made by Shukan Bunshun in late April.

The initial report claimed Takaichi's secretary and others were involved in videos produced and posted for last October's Liberal Democratic Party presidential race and February's general election that criticized politicians, including calling Takaichi's leadership rival and now Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi "incapable."

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