Shinzo Abe

Abe made the comment on a TV Asahi program, saying that a report by the Asahi Shimbun was a "malicious invention" for claiming that NHK caved into political pressure from Abe to alter the content of the 2001 TV program.

"It is not a matter that (I) should explain before the Diet, and it is not true," Abe said. "(The opposition) would use (my) summoning as a witness to defer (Diet deliberations on) the budget."

Shoichi Nakagawa

The daily reported Jan. 12 that Abe and Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa learned of the contents of the program before it was aired Jan. 30, 2001, and called on NHK executives to lodge a protest.

Abe was deputy chief Cabinet secretary at the time while Nakagawa was head of a Diet group tasked with discussing what to do with history textbooks that were beginning to mention atrocities committed by Japan during the war.

On the program, Abe repeated that he did not call on the NHK executives, but that they made an appointment to visit him to discuss the public broadcaster's annual budget, which is subject to Diet approval, and future projects.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 22, 2005
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