[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 25th Ministerial Meeting Concerning Measures Against Crime at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, the current state of and countermeasures in response to international terrorism, the draft Third Set of Comprehensive Measures to Eliminate Child Pornography, and the draft Emergency Measures for the Prevention of Repeated Offences by Drug-Dependent People, Elderly Criminals, and Others, were discussed.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“‘I want to work for the good of Bangladesh.’ People who had this noble desire, and were striving to achieve it, have become the victims of an inhumane and despicable act of terrorism. In order to prevent this kind of tragedy from ever occurring again, we must strongly advance anti-terrorism measures with a stronger sense of urgency.

The key to proactive measures for the prevention of terrorism is information. We will rapidly strengthen our intelligence gathering, including augmenting the Counter Terrorism Unit - Japan (CTU-J) system, which operates directly under the Prime Minister’s Office. We will utilize a wide range of tools to rapidly and accurately transmit necessary information affecting Japanese citizens overseas, especially those involved in ODA activities.

At the same time, in order to definitely prevent the intrusion of terrorists into Japan, this autumn we will start the operation of a new system to collate images of people’s faces taken when they enter the country. Moreover, we will drastically speed up implementation of the plan to establish body scanners that can detect suspicious objects that do not respond to metal detectors, and within this year will install them at eight airports, and then gradually at all international airports in Japan. We must steadily advance “anti-terrorism measures best-suited to Japan” in which the public and private sectors work together, such as by strengthening the guarding of important facilities and fostering a relationship of trust with the foreign community, and strengthening our communication with them.
Strengthening our communication with international society toward the eradication of terrorism is also essential. At the coming ASEM Summit Meeting, we will express the strong message that Japan will never tolerate terrorism.

Today we have also compiled general measures in regard to the elimination of child pornography, and to prevent repeated offences. To protect children from despicable crimes, we must exert our full efforts to carry out these measures. Furthermore, it is important to continue long-term measures to prevent repeated offences, with an emphasis on drug-dependent people and the aging of individuals convicted of a crime. In both cases, I would like you to quickly move to the implementation of the measures that have been determined.

Good public order is an essential foundation of the peaceful daily lives of the people, and this is one of Japan’s strengths, in which we can take pride before the rest of the world. Looking ahead to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, I would like to ask each Minister to demonstrate strong leadership and steadily advance each necessary measure, in order to make Japan the safest country in the world.”