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| Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida / AFP-Yonhap |
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be protected by top-level security during his visit to South Korea this weekend, officials said Thursday.
Kishida, who is due to arrive Sunday for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, will receive the highest level of protection in consideration of political circumstances at home and abroad, such as the recent throwing of an explosive at him during a campaign event and last year's assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan's prime minister was previously not among the foreign leaders eligible for the highest level of protection but was included on the list ahead of Kishida's visit, according to the presidential office.
Other factors also came into play, such as the heightened possibility of a North Korean provocation amid Yoon's efforts to strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan, as well as the risk posed by South Korean activists resentful of Japan's handling of issues related to its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The Presidential Security Service declined to give details about the heightened security measures.
The measures reportedly include the formation of a single command structure centered on the Presidential Security Service, and including the military and police, and the designation of additional security zones. (Yonhap)
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