Coast Guard considers punishing more than 50 officials over video leak

Monday 20th December, 08:53 AM JST

TOKYO —

The Japan Coast Guard is considering punishing more than 50 officials over the leak of video footage of maritime collisions involving a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol vessels off the disputed Senkaku Islands in September, Coast Guard sources said Monday.

The officials being considered for punishment include a 43-year-old officer of the Kobe Coast Guard Office who has admitted to leaking the footage and those who had supervisory responsibilities, they said.

Although the officer has already submitted a letter of resignation, the Coast Guard has refused to accept it, the sources also said.

Police are planning to send papers on the officer to prosecutors as early as this week on charges of violating the National Public Service Law, which prohibits civil servants from divulging secrets obtained during the course of their work.

But the prosecutors are seen as likely to waive indictment of the officer when they make their final decision possibly in January.

Under the Coast Guard’s disciplinary action, the officer could face suspension or even dismissal, based on the magnitude of the impact that the leak had on society, the sources said.

The Coast Guard is also planning to take disciplinary action against top officials of the patrol boat Uranami, the Kobe Coast Guard Office and the Kobe-based regional Coast Guard headquarters, as well as officials of the Japan Coast Guard Academy in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, they said.

The number of officials who will receive reprimands based on the National Public Service Law as well as those under the Coast Guard’s internal regulations is highly likely to exceed 50, they said.

The officer is suspected of saving footage on a USB data storage devise from a shared personal computer inside the Uranami, on which he was serving as a navigator, in mid-October and posting it online on Nov 4 at an Internet cafe in Kobe.

The video had been saved on the shared computer by his colleague from a shared folder at the Coast Guard Academy and a number of those at the regional Coast Guard headquarters had viewed the footage.

The officers related to putting the video in the shared folder at the academy and those responsible for supervising them could also be reprimanded, the sources said.

The video in question shows the Sept 7 collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.