The son of a former construction minister and a former ruling-party lawmaker have received mail containing bullets, police investigations showed Tuesday.
The incidents come in the wake of bullets being sent to the residence of former Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and the offices of former House of Representatives lawmaker Muneo Suzuki between Sunday and Monday. Police believe the mail was sent by the same group.
The latest letters were sent to Yasuhide Nakayama, son of Masaaki Nakayama, and former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato. The letters are among several dozen cases of threatening mail sent to various parts of Japan by a sender identified as "Kenkoku Giyugun," which roughly translates as "nation-building volunteer corps."
The targets in each case have been linked to matters related to North Korea.
According to investigations, a letter containing a bullet was sent to the office of Nakayama, whose father, Masaaki, expressed his intention last month to retire from politics.
The son is expected to run for his father's seat in the Nov. 9 general election.
In the other case, a bullet was sent to Kato's office in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture.