Aso denies plans to quit over bureaucrat sexual harassment

April 20, 2018

Washington- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Thursday he is not considering resigning over the alleged sexual harassment of female journalists by the top bureaucrat of his ministry.

Asked about his responsibility for appointing the bureaucrat, Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda, Aso said he is not sure whether the sexual harassment allegations reported by a weekly magazine last week are true.

TV Asahi Corp. claimed Thursday that one of its female employees was a victim of sexual harassment by Fukuda. It submitted a letter of protest to the ministry the same day.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Aso said he takes the protest seriously, adding that his ministry hopes to listen to the story of the TV Asahi worker.

The ministry plans to interview her through a lawyer, according to Aso.

Referring to voice data presented by the woman to the weekly magazine, Shukan Shincho, Aso said that he thought the clip contained what seemed to be the voice of the vice finance minister, but that the voice of the woman was not included.

Since the woman has stepped forward, her voice should have been part of the data, Aso said.

Explaining the effective dismissal of Fukuda, Aso said that although the vice minister claimed innocence, the problem is how his words and actions were taken by the woman.

Aso is visiting Washington to attend a two-day meeting through Friday of finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.

In the letter of protest submitted Thursday night to Deputy Vice Finance Minister Koji Yano, TV Asahi said it cannot overlook what Fukuda did at all.

The letter, signed by Hiroshi Shinozuka, director and head of the company's news bureau, said that Fukuda has sexually harassed the woman quite a lot of times, including the use of obscene words.

"Fukuda's sexual harassment, which took advantage of his superior position, should never be passed over, as he is in a position of heavy social responsibility," said the broadcaster, a subsidiary of TV Asahi Holdings Corp.

The woman is "suffering great psychological damage," the letter said, urging the ministry to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations and release the results promptly. Jiji Press