Ex-NHK Presenter Who Made Controversial Senkaku Comments Had Appeared as Reporter in Chinese Media

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:49 JST, August 29, 2024

NHK said Wednesday that a former Chinese contracted employee, who recently made controversial comments in Chinese about the Senkaku Islands on its international radio program, had previously appeared as a reporter on a China-affiliated news media outlet in Hong Kong.

NHK has confirmed that the man appeared on the news outlet more than 20 times and contributed articles from February 2020 to January 2024. He reported on such issues as the discharge of treated water into the ocean from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The public broadcaster said it was not previously aware of the relationship.

As the man did not have access to the system of the department that produces the news, NHK said that there were no leaks of undisclosed information for news pieces.

“It’s not just an issue for our international broadcasting. NHK as a whole was not paying sufficient attention to security,” NHK President Nobuo Inaba told the Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday, after meeting executive members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications.

Inaba also said he told the committee members that the NHK will review its attention to security.