Court dismisses Japan Defence Minister Inada’s complaint about article linking her to Korean hate group

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Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 3:45pm, 12 Oct 2016Updated: 11:05pm, 12 Oct 2016

A Japanese high court has dismissed an appeal filed by Defence Minister Tomomi Inada in a lawsuit in which she sought compensation over a magazine article reporting her alleged link to an anti-Korean group.

In the defamation lawsuit, Inada, who was not the defence minister at that time, demanded The Mainichi Newspapers Co., which owns the publisher of the magazine, pay 5.5 million yen ($52,900) in damages and publish an apology. The appeals court upheld the lower court decision that dismissed her demand.

Members of Japanese right-wing groups protest in an ethnic Korean neighbourhood in Tokyo in 2013. File photo: Xinhua

In 2014, the Sunday Mainichi weekly magazine reported in its October 5 issue that Inada’s funds management organisation has received about 210,000 yen in donations from eight people associated with a senior member of the Zaitokukai group, saying their “close proximity stands out.”

The headline of the article reads: “Abe’s and sympathiser lawmaker’s honeymoon with extreme right Zaitokukai.”

Inada insisted the article gives the impression she supports Zaitokukai and degrades her social reputation, but the Osaka District Court ruled in March that the article does not deviate from the boundary of fair comment. The Osaka High Court made a similar statement in Wednesday’s ruling.