The chief of staff of the Japanese Navy resigned on Friday in the wake of several controversies involving the handling of confidential defense materials by individuals lacking the necessary security clearances.
The most senior uniformed officer in the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), Admiral Ryo Sakai, announced, “I will retire and resign from the Chief of Maritime Staff position on July 19.”
“As chief of the maritime staff, I am responsible for the training of personnel and the organisational management of the force, and I’m rightly held accountable for failing to fulfil my duties as the manager of specified secrets,” Sakai told the press.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the chief government spokesman, added that more than 200 individuals had also been subject to “disciplinary action.”
“The activities of the Self-Defense Forces are underpinned by the trust of the public, and these incidents, which must never be allowed to happen, are extremely regrettable,” Hayashi stated to reporters.
“From now on, under the leadership of the defence minister, I hope that the ministry and the Self-Defense Forces will work together to ensure that measures are taken to prevent a recurrence of such an incident and that it never happens again,” said the minister.
The Defense Ministry declared in April that five senior officers, one of whom was a destroyer captain, had been disciplined after an unscreened officer had handled information about the whereabouts of ships belonging to foreign nations.
At the time, Minoru Kihara, the minister of defense, stated that the government “takes these incidents extremely seriously” but that no foreigners had access to the material.
It is only one of many issues that have shaken Japan’s military, which is being strengthened in reaction to China’s increasing assertiveness with US support.
Among these is the 2021 sexual assault of female coworker Rina Gonoi by three Japanese soldiers, whose accusations were first disregarded by an internal military investigation.
In a well-publicized trial last year, the three men were found guilty.
