Shinzo Abe: K Shanmugam shocked by ex-Japan PM’s death, calls it ‘despicable murder’

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Friday (8 July) expressed shock over the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, calling it a “despicable murder”.

Abe died in hospital after he was shot twice while giving a speech at a political campaign event in Nara on Friday morning.

In a post on his Facebook page, Shanmugam said he had met then PM-Abe in 2014 and was stunned that the shooting incident could happen in Japan. “And if it can happen in Japan, it can happen anywhere, including Singapore. Unfortunately such acts will continue.”

Earlier, PM Lee Hsien Loong said in a tweet, that he "received with a heavy heart" news of Abe’s death. Lee called it a "deeply shocking and distressing incident".

Apart from Lee and Shanmugam, other world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, UK PM Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian PM Mario Draghi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen have also expressed their shock and extended their condolences to Abe’s family and the people of Japan.

Japan’s current PM, Fumio Kishida, said he was “lost for words, and paid tribute to Abe’s “great leadership”. “I have great respect for the legacy Shinzo Abe left behind and I pay the deepest condolences to him,” he added.

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