CBS “Mornings” on Friday remembered former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following his assassination while on the campaign trail at the age of 67.
According to CBS reporter Elizabeth Palmer, Abe was a “polarizing figure,” “a right-wing nationalist and conservative.” She advised that although Abe’s “political opinions were controversial,” the country was “united in shock and sympathy at the news of his death.”
“It would be hard to overstate just how much of a shock this is in the normally nonviolent Japan,” Palmer stated. People are really feeling traumatized.”
“Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister when he left office in 2020 due to ill health,” she continued in a voice-over recording. “A polarizing figure, he was a right-wing nationalist and conservative and a fierce supporter of Japan’s military. He fought to amend the country’s pacifist constitution in the face of the rising threat from China. While in office, Abe met former President Donald Trump several times to reaffirm Japan’s military and trade alliances with the United States. His political opinions were controversial, but the country is united in shock and sympathy at the news of his death.”
Palmer advised that a gun attack in a country with such strong gun law has the people “feeling shaken.”
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