Minister orders NHK to focus on abductions

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga issued an unprecedented order Friday for NHK to air more content on North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals in its shortwave radio service.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga walks to his office Friday before his meeting with NHK Chairman Genichi Hashimoto. KYODO PHOTO

It is the first time a minister has issued a detailed and specific order to the public broadcaster, stirring criticism in the media and among experts that it will lead to further government interference with freedom of the press.

NHK Chairman Genichi Hashimoto told reporters after receiving the order from Suga at the ministry that NHK will "stick to its basics of independent and autonomous program editing in its international broadcasting," just as in its other broadcasting services.

Article 33 of the Broadcast Law says the communications minister can give NHK direction in its content for international broadcasting.

However, the orders have so far been limited to such abstract wordings as "policies important to the state" and "the government's views on international issues."

On Wednesday, the Radio Regulatory Council, an advisory panel to the communications minister, endorsed the order for NHK in a report after Suga asked it to deliberate on the matter earlier in the day.

The panel concluded it is appropriate for the minister to tell NHK to be "specifically mindful of the problem of North Korea's abduction of Japanese" in the service, noting the need to take NHK's editorial freedom into consideration.

The government provides about 2.2 billion yen for NHK's shortwave radio service. NHK is chiefly funded by viewer fees.

Suga has indicated he will issue the same order for the next fiscal year beginning in April, repeatedly claiming he would do his best to seek the rescue of the Japanese abductees.

Suga's stated goal in issuing the order has been that he wants to give hope to any abductees still alive in the North. Pyongyang, however, has repeatedly claimed that other than the five abductees it allowed to return to Japan in 2002, there are no others still alive.