Japan sacks navy chief, suspends 83 officers in classified information scandal

Amid a spate of scandals, Japan dismissed the top navy officials on the same day the country’s defence ministry released an annual defence report. On Friday, the Defence Ministry said that it had punished 218 SDF members and senior bureaucrats, with 11 dismissals, two demotions and 83 suspensions, The Straits Times reported.

Not only this, top navy officer Admiral Ryo Sakai, was sacked as well. The country’s defence sector is currently embroiled in a spate of scandals involving financial improprieties and corruption as well as accusations of mishandling state secrets and workplace harassment.

Along with the latest purge on the staff, the Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said that he would voluntarily give up one month’s salary. “The incidents are a betrayal of the public’s trust and should never have happened. I am deeply sorry," he said while announcing the move.

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The move came hours after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apologised for the scandal but made it clear that he would not replace Kihara.

”I must apologise for the concern that has been caused to the public by the defence ministry and the Self-Defense Forces,” Kishida said in Washington DC where he attended a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders.

”I recognise that the situation is extremely severe, and in that context, I understand there is no room for error,” he added. The scandal has threatened the already tarnished image of the SDF as it struggles to meet the recruitment quota. The Defence Ministry said on July 8 that the SDF hired just 9,959 people in 2023 – or a record low 51 per cent of the targeted 19,598 personnel.

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Meanwhile, the 548-page Defence White Paper Report noted that the world was “facing its greatest trial” since 1945 and raised alarm over Chinese actions around Taiwan. The report went on to describe China’s “no-limit” cooperation with Russia as “unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge to which Japan should respond with its comprehensive national power and in cooperation with its ally the United States and like-minded countries”.

With inputs from agencies.