Chapter 5 Maintaining Public Safety and Disaster Countermeasures

Section 1 International Terrorism andCountermeasures
1 International Terrorism(1) Islamic and other extremist groups
The situation of international terrorism has
gradually changed with the rise of the ISIL, anorganization that was initially related to theterrorist organization Al-Qaeda (AQ). The
ISIL has been involved in the murder of Iraqi
soldiers, as well as American and British
hostages and has posted videos of these acts ofviolence on the Internet, shaking theinternational community with its cruelty. Inaddition, it has been reported that more than
20,000 foreign fighters have participated in
the conflict in Syria. It has been pointed outthat there is a potential danger that thesefighters could carry out terrorist attacks intheir home countries after their return.
Recently there have been incidents in which
Japan's interests and Japanese nationals wereactually targeted. The terrorist incidents inSyria involving Japanese nationals which took
place in January and February in 2015, and theterrorist incident which took place in Tunisia
in March of the same year are examples ofsuch incidents. There is a growing concernover the possibility of Japanese nationals
being involved in terrorist attacks orabductions in the future.

March 2014 for the first time in over a year
and four months, and in the subsequentconsultations held in May of the same year,
NorthKorea

promised

toconductacomprehensive and thorough investigation
into the whereabouts of all Japanese victims,
including abductees and missing persons. In
response to North Korea's launch of theinvestigation after the consultations held inJuly 2014, the Japanese government liftedsome sanctions imposed on North Korea. Asof April 1, 2015, however, the Japanesegovernment has not obtained any specificinformation from North Korea on the resultsof the investigation.

2 International Terrorism Countermeasures
In response to the recent severe situationof terrorism, the NPA established the “NPA
Headquarters for the Promotion ofCountermeasures against Terrorism” inFebruary 2015 and has been making further
efforts to prevent terrorism and to strengthen
terrorism
response
capabilities
byconsidering and promoting counter-terrorism
measures.

(2) North Korea
As of December 31, 2014, the police havedetermined 13 suspected cases of abduction
by North Korea involving 19 victims, and are
acting on international arrest warrants issued
against 11 North Korean operatives involved
in eight abduction cases.
In addition, the Japan-North Korea
Government-Level Consultations were held in

Exercises by the Counter-NBC (Nuclear, Biological,Chemical) Terrorism Squad

Among the measures to prevent terrorist
attacks, the NPA is promoting cooperation- 51 -Countermeasures
To prevent a recurrence of Aum Shinrikyo’s
indiscriminate mass murder, the police areworking with related agencies to reveal its
actual state and are strengthening thecrackdown on its coordinated illegal activities.
In addition, the police are also promoting
public relations activities in order to prevent
memories of the series of heinous incidents
perpetrated by the Aum Shinrikyo, such as theSarin Gas Attack on the Tokyo Subway, fromfading, and to obtain an accurate
understanding of its current situation.

between the government and private entities
for counter-terrorism. It is also enhancing
measures to protect nuclear, biological andchemical materials for the prevention ofNBC terrorism. In order to enhance thesystematic response to terrorist attacks, theNPA is making efforts to improve andstrengthen anti-terrorism squads and topromote joint exercises with the Japan
Self-Defense Forces.

Section
2ForeignAffairs
andCountermeasures
1 Harmful Activities against Japan andCountermeasures
North Korea has made repeated military
provocations, such as launching ballisticmissiles, in its rivalry with the U.S.-SouthKorea joint military exercises. At the sametime, North Korea has agreed to continue tohold high-level talks with South Korea. In thisway, North Korea’s diplomacy has alternatedbetween dialogue and provocation. As for itspolicy toward Japan, North Korea appeared tohave tried to form pro-North Korea public
opinion in Japan by accepting Japanesedelegations led by famous persons in apositive manner and allowing the Japanesegroups to continue to visit the graveyards oftheir relatives who died in North Korea as apart of efforts to bring back their remains.

2 Trends in Extreme Leftist Groups andCountermeasures
In 2014, extreme leftist groups, attempting
to maintain and expand their organizations,and engaged in popular movements and labor
movements such as anti-nuclear power
demonstrations while concealing theirviolence and political leanings.
The police are pressing ahead with criminal
investigations related to extreme leftist
groups, utilizing sweeping searches onapartments and other places to uncoverunderground strongholds, and public relations
campaigns using posters and other materials.

2 Cracking Down on Illegal Exports ofMaterials Related to Weapons of Mass
Destruction
The police have been tightening theircrackdown on illegal activities in violation of
the sanctions imposed on North Korea. By
April 2015, the police had exposed a total of
34 illegal activities.

National Workers' All-Out Rally by extreme leftist
groups (November, Tokyo)

3 Trends of Rightist Groups andCountermeasures
In 2014, rightist groups conducted protest
activities, including propaganda activities onthe streets, seizing on such issues as illegal

Section 3 Public Safety and Countermeasures

1Trends

inAum

Shinrikyo

and- 52 -fishing for coral off the coast of theseries

oftheselarge-scaledisasters,

Ogasawara Islands by Chinese fishermen,

implementing activities such as the rescue oftarget practice conducted by the South Koreandisaster victims and search for missing

Navy in waters including Japan's territorial

persons.

waters off the coast of the Takeshima islands,
and the publishing of articles on the comfort
women issue by The Asahi Shimbun whichthat newspaper withdrew and apologized forlater. The police are striving to prevent serious
incidents such as terrorism acts by rightistgroups, and are engaged in crackdowns on
their illegal activities.
In addition, right-wing citizens' groups,

Search activities for missing persons(Hiroshima Prefecture)including Zaitokukai, are organizing activities
such as demonstrations and rallies at various
locations and sometimes

commit2 Imperial/Dignitary Protection
With due consideration to the affinity
between the Imperial Family and thecitizenry, the police have implemented
security measures to ensure the safety of theImperial Family, as well as to manage
crowds and prevent accidents amongwell-wishers.
In addition, under the current climate ofheightened tension surrounding important
officials, with concerns of possible terrorist
and other illegal attacks, the police areimplementing appropriate security measures
to ensure their safety.

illegalactivities arising from trouble with groups
which oppose the actions of right-wing
citizens’ groups. The police continue to takestrict measures, based on the law andevidence, should any illegal activity beconfirmed.

Demonstration by a right-wing citizens' group(November, Tokyo)

Section 4 Dealing with Disasters andSecurity Measures
1 Dealing with Natural Disasters
In 2014, earthquakes, heavy rains,
typhoons, gales and storm surges resulted in
166 fatalities/missing persons and 621
injuries. In August of the same year, torrential
downpours in and around Hiroshima City
caused landslides, and in September, Mt.
Ontake erupted. The police responded to theEscort for the Imperial Family visiting the Ise Jingu
Shrine (March, Mie)

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