Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday asked US President Barack Obama to investigate alleged spying by American security agencies on the government and corporate officials in Japan.
During a telephone conversation, Obama apologised over the suspected eavesdropping by the National Security Agency (NSA), Kyodo news agency quoted government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga as saying. Suga quoted Abe as telling Obama that if the spying allegations are “true, it could shake the trust between alliance partners”, and that he has “no choice but to express our grave concern”.
Towards the end of July, WikiLeaks had published documents that revealed NSA had been spying on the Japanese government and several firms since 2006, when Abe was first elected to power. Besides the reports, WikiLeaks also published an NSA list containing 35 “high priority” Japanese targets for telephonic interception. The website also published documents revealing alleged spying by the US on other nations like Germany, France and Brazil.
