North Korea's ballistic missile test on Tuesday and the eruption of Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture on Wednesday presented a double challenge for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is traveling across Japan to support candidates in the upcoming House of Representatives election.
Aware that a poor response in the event of an emergency could be fatal to his administration, the government has decided that Kishida or Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno will issue instructions to staff to prevent any complications during the election campaign.
North Korea launched a missile on Tuesday, the day campaigning for the election officially started, and Mt. Aso erupted on the following day.
"The prime minister instructed us to proceed with measures that put human lives first [regarding the eruption]," Matsuno told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday afternoon, stressing that there has been no problem regarding crisis management.
When the eruption occurred at 11:43 a.m., the prime minister was giving a speech in Hyogo Prefecture, while Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki was holding a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office.
Matsuno, who was at the lower house lawmakers' office building, returned to the Prime Minister's Office at 12:06 p.m. and reported the incident to Kishida by phone.
Kishida subsequently gave speeches at two locations in Hyogo Prefecture and three locations in Hiroshima Prefecture as scheduled.
According to the government's instruction manual, the prime minister does not have to return to his office in Tokyo following a Level 4 eruption alert, under which people are advised to prepare to evacuate.
Following the eruption Wednesday, officials issued a Level 3 alert, under which people are advised not to approach the volcano.
According to a source close to the prime minister, the government decided that "there would be no problem as long as he could be contacted."
When North Korea conducted a missile test on Tuesday, Kishida decided to return to Tokyo even though the manual does not state that a prime minister must do so, the source said.
During the 17-day election campaign for the 2019 House of Councillors poll during the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, both the prime minister and the chief cabinet secretary engaged in campaign activities outside of Tokyo every day.
The Kishida Cabinet will follow suit, with Matsuno stumping mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and upper house member Isozaki staying in the capital.
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