NHK reported on the 24th that the Japanese government has decided not to send a minister to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February next year due to human rights issues in China.
According to reports, the Japanese government is expected to announce such a policy today.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said that after the US announced a 'diplomatic boycott' for the Beijing Olympics, "we will make our own judgment according to the national interest at an appropriate time" as to whether or not Japan will participate.
If the Japanese government announces that it will not dispatch a cabinet member on this day, it is effectively participating in the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
Hard-line conservatives within the ruling LDP have demanded a diplomatic boycott of the Kishida cabinet on the grounds of human rights issues in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong.
According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Kishida had a meeting with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a representative hardline conservative, for about 25 minutes the evening before at Abe's office in the House of Representatives Hall.
At this meeting, former Prime Minister Abe delivered his views on the response to the Beijing Olympics to Prime Minister Kishida.
(Photo = Getty Images Korea)