Minoru Kihara: “The establishment of this council marks the first step in intelligence reform.”

We recognise that in a rapidly changing security environment there is a growing need to counter foreign intelligence activities — such as the acquisition of critical information — that threaten Japan's national security.

It is regrettable that the measure imposes tariffs on the grounds of non-existence of measures banning imports of goods made by forced labor, even though Japan's industry and trade are in line with international rules.

Japan’s efforts so far have been recognized.

We take it seriously that the incident occurred despite our operations under multi-layered security measures and a 24-hours-a-day, 365-day-a-year surveillance system.