Berlin, July 8 (AFP/APP): German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed shock and solidarity with Japan on Friday after the killing of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
“The deadly attack on Shinzo Abe has left me aghast and deeply sad,” the German leader tweeted.
“I extend deep sympathy to his family, my colleague Fumio Kishida and our Japanese friends. We stand with Japan in these difficult hours.”
Scholz’s predecessor in office, Angela Merkel, said in a separate statement she was “shocked and appalled” by Abe’s assassination, calling it a “cowardly and vile attack”.
Merkel said she had worked “closely together” with Abe during their years in office, united in the goal of facing up to the “great challenges of our time” in “multilateral partnership”.
“Japan and the world have lost a great statesman,” she said, calling him a “close colleague and friend”.
“His word had weight. His decisions could be relied upon,” Merkel added, saying his “humour helped to overcome resistance”.
“We will remember him with abundant gratitude and sadness,” she said.
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