Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said Sunday that he had received a death threat before his meeting with supporters held in the prefecture’s capital city earlier in the day.
The message sent to the meeting’s venue on Friday said that the sender would go to the meeting to “kill Denny Tamaki who will run (in September’s gubernatorial election) hiding his ties to the Japanese Communist Party,” according to sources close to the matter.
“Thorough (security) measures were taken to ensure that no harm would come to prefectural residents,” Tamaki told reporters after the meeting.
Tamaki, who strongly opposes the contentious plan to relocate a U.S. base within the southern island prefecture, has said he will run for a third term in September.
The threat also targeted the captain of a boat involved in a fatal accident in March off the prefecture’s Henoko coastal area, where the U.S. base is to be moved from a crowded district, according to the sources.
In March, two boats carrying high school students on a “peace education” trip to view the ongoing construction work for the base relocation capsized off Henoko, killing a 17-year-old student and the 71-year-old captain of one of the boats.
© KYODO
