The Justice Ministry has protested against an article run by the Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday that said the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau is recommending that a former North Korean agent be granted refugee status, according to ministry officials.
The ministry has sent a letter of protest to the major daily's managing editor in the name of Immigration Bureau chief Nobuya Masuda, saying the article "goes against the facts" and demanding a correction and an apology, the officials said.
In response to the ministry's move, Yukio Edano, policy chief of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, issued a statement expressing his objection to what he described as the ministry's overreaction to the article.