Fukushima disaster survivors abused by ‘helping’ bureaucrat

From NHK World English in Japan:

Agency official makes abusive remarks on Twitter

The government agency in charge of helping victims of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima plans to punish one of its senior officials for making abusive remarks on Twitter.

The Reconstruction Agency says that in March this year, the official sat in on a meeting in the Diet of a citizens’ group working to minimize exposure to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant accident.

He later tweeted that he attended a meeting only to be booed and jeered by people he called no-good leftists. He went on to say that the only thing he feels sympathy for is their lack of intelligence.

The next day, the official tweeted “One problem solved.” But the content of the post was that the parties only agreed to leave the matter undecided.

Whenever he received advanced notice of a question to be asked in the Diet, he remarked online that he’d been “unexpectedly bombed” again.

The agency on Wednesday questioned the official, who admitted to the Twitter postings.

Reconstruction Minister Takumi Nemoto said the remarks were inappropriate for a government official.

The Diet affairs chief of the opposition Democratic Party, Yoshiaki Takaki, said government officials must be held responsible for making abusive remarks about the public, particularly victims of the disaster, as the country struggles to bring the accident to a closure.

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said help for the victims has been slow because officials in charge think it can be put off. She demanded the dismissal of the senior official.

Jun. 13, 2013 – Updated 04:27 UTC

OSAKA – Despite fears of radioactive contamination, Osaka Prefecture is finalizing plans to begin incinerating 36,000 tons of tsunami debris from Iwate Prefecture next month: here.

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