TOKYO, July 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The Japanese Navy's chief of staff quit on
Friday after a raft of scandals including over people without adequate
security clearances handling classified defence materials.

"I will resign from the chief of maritime staff job on July 19 and retire,"
said Admiral Ryo Sakai, the most senior uniformed officer in the Maritime
Self-Defense Force (MSDF).

"As chief of the maritime staff, I am responsible for the training of
personnel and the organisational management of the force, and I'm rightly
held accountable for failing to fulfil my duties as the manager of specified
secrets," Sakai told reporters.

Chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi also said that "disciplinary
action" had also been taken against more than 200 people.

"The activities of the Self-Defense Forces are underpinned by the trust of
the public, and these incidents, which must never be allowed to happen, are
extremely regrettable," Hayashi told reporters.

"From now on, under the leadership of the defence minister, I hope that the
ministry and the Self-Defense Forces will work together to ensure that
measures are taken to prevent a recurrence of such an incident and that it
never happens again," he said.

The defence ministry announced in April that five senior officers including a
destroyer captain had been punished after an unvetted officer handled
information on the location of other countries' ships.

Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said at the time that the material was not
leaked to outsiders but that the government "takes these incidents extremely
seriously".

It is just one of several controversies to rock Japan's military, which with
US encouragement is being beefed up in response to China's growing
assertiveness.

These include three Japanese soldiers sexually assaulting female colleague
Rina Gonoi in 2021, whose complaints were initially brushed aside in an
internal military probe.

The three men were convicted last year in a high-profile trial.