‘Stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened’: Biden mourns Japan’s Abe after assassination

President Joe Biden on Friday said he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened” by the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed while delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara.

“This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him,” Biden said in a statement, reflecting upon his relationship with Abe while serving as vice president to former President Barack Obama. Abe resigned from office in September 2020 because of health problems.

Abe “was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people. The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure,” Biden said. “Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service. Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy.”

Although “there are many details that we do not yet know,” Biden acknowledged, “we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.”

In a Friday afternoon statement, Biden ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff until sunset on Sunday "as a mark of respect for the memory" of the the former prime minister.

Asked about the impact the assassination may have on Japanese security at a press conference about the president's executive actions on abortion Friday afternoon, Biden pivoted to the United States’ gun violence issues, emphasizing the low number of firearm-related killings in Japan compared to the thousands of cases in the U.S. this year.

“The fact is that one thing did strike my attention: That this is the first use of a weapon to murder someone in Japan [this year]. They have one, one, one,” the president said. “I do not believe it's likely to have — but I don't know yet — any profound destabilizing impact on Japanese security or Japanese solidarity.”

Biden underscored U.S. confidence in the strength of Japanese democracy in a later call with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, according to a White House readout.

In her own statement, Vice President Kamala Harris said Abe was a “close friend” of the United States, “and on this tragic day, we stand with our Japanese friends in honoring him and condemning this horrific act of violence.”

Abe’s two stints as prime minister — from 2006 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020 — spanned three U.S. presidencies. As leader of the conservative, governing Liberal Democratic Party, he sought to foster relationships with foreign counterparts and expanded Japan’s international engagement, all while pursuing a fiscal agenda known as “Abenomics” that grew his country’s economy.

Abe’s death on Friday at the age of 67 came ahead of an election this weekend for the upper house of the National Diet, Japan’s parliament. He was speaking on behalf of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate when he was shot from behind and collapsed. Abe was then airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara. Medical officials said he was wounded in the neck and the heart, and that he died of blood loss.

A male suspect was detained at the scene, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK, and police sources said they found a seemingly handmade gun. The attack was notable given Japan’s gun control laws, which are some of the strictest in the world.

Speaking at the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Abe’s assassination a “shocking” and “profoundly disturbing” event that represented “such a strong personal loss for so many people.”

Blinken, appearing alongside South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, said he had conveyed to his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi the United States’ “very deep condolences” on Abe’s death. He described Abe as “an extraordinary partner” who “brought the relationship between … the United States and Japan to new heights.”

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel hailed Abe as “a leader ahead of his time,” saying in a statement that the United States “has lost a trusted partner and an outspoken advocate for our shared ideals.” He added of Abe: “The clarity of his voice will be truly missed.”

Former President Donald Trump also mourned the assassination of Abe, who was the first foreign leader to meet the then-president-elect at Trump Tower in New York in November 2016. Abe’s death is “Really BAD NEWS FOR THE WORLD!” Trump posted on his Truth Social social media platform.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan under Trump and is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that the world had “tragically lost a leading statesman, tireless champion of democratic values, and the greatest Prime Minister in modern Japanese history.”

Referring to Abe as a “friend and longtime partner,” Obama said in a statement that he “will always remember the work we did to strengthen our alliance, the moving experience of traveling to Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor together, and the grace he and his wife Akie Abe showed to me and [former first lady Michelle Obama].”

Numerous other world leaders expressed similar sentiments. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg lamented the “heinous killing of … a defender of democracy,” and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Abe a “wonderful person, great democrat and champion of the multilateral world order.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Abe’s “global leadership through unchartered times will be remembered by many.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country would “stand closely by Japan's side in these difficult hours” while French President Emmanuel Macron said Abe “dedicated his life to his country and worked to bring balance to the world.” And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of Abe’s assassination: “This heinous act of violence has no excuse.”

Matt Berg contributed to this report.