By DPA
Tokyo : The Japanese government has condemned the killing of a Japanese journalist in the anti-government protests in Myanmar and demanded an explanation from the military junta in Yangon, reports said Saturday.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koruma protested in the strongest terms at the killing of the 50-year-old journalist, Kenji Nagai, with his Myanmar counterpart, the Japanese press agency Kyodo reported Saturday.
Koruma also demanded an account of the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s death. As far as could be gleaned from media reports, he was shot at close range and was not caught in crossfire, he said.
According to reports in the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun, the reporter was filming the protests Thursday at the Sule Pagoda, which has been a focal point for several of the demonstrations in Yangon, when a military commander ordered soldiers to shoot.
Nagai filmed the soldiers chasing protesters and then fled, but was pursued by a soldier who then shot him at close range.
A Japanese doctor who examined his body said that the bullet had pierced his heart, according to the reports.
Komura said he was sending Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka to Myanmar, according to the officials.
Myanmar claimed the anti-government protests were organized by foreign elements coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly, the Japanese officials said.
Komura, in turn, was quoted as saying: “Even if that is the case, demonstrations of this magnitude would not have been staged if people in Myanmar had not been filled with a sense of dissatisfaction.”