Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged in his New Year's address Sunday that Japan will play a leading role in diplomacy in 2023 as the host of the Group of Seven summit while serving as a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Kishida described 2022 as a "tumultuous year," which saw history-making events, citing the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant of the new coronavirus, Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan is "facing the severest security situation" in the post-World War II era, Kishida said, adding the Asian country will demonstrate its "strong willingness to reject attempts to change the status quo by force" and grapple with "nuclear threats."