sengoku38, the author of the video leaks on YouTube, is a 43-year old coast guard officer, writes Sheila A. Smith, in a post on the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) blog. The prosecutors seem to agree with the Chinese Foreign Ministry in that the video cannot change [a number of contested] facts. sengoku38 won’t be prosecuted for an offense against the Japanese secrecy laws, because the footage of the “Senkaku incident” hadn’t been identified by the coast guard authorities as secret.
The prosecutors’ decision has implications for the way information obtained while on the job should be handled without affecting the healthy dose of government officials who do talk “off the record”, writes Smith, and adds that beyond Japanese politics, questions may remain as to how Japan and the US can cooperate on security without negative effects from improper handling of what should have been classified data.
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Update/Related
Questions only on Voluntary Basis, Kan “doesn’t understand” decision, Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 17, 2010
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