TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio on Sunday prayed for former U.S. President Donald Trump’s early recovery after he was injured in a shooting at a presidential election campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

“We must stand firmly against violence that challenges democracy,” Kishida said on X, formerly Twitter. “I wish for Mr. Trump’s speedy recovery.”

Senior officials of Japan’s ruling and opposition parties also commented on the incident.

“We must never resort to violence,” Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a meeting in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

In the incident that happened Saturday, a man opened fire at Trump, 78, the presumptive Republican Party nominee in the U.S. presidential election in November, while he was delivering a speech on the podium at the event venue. The former U.S. leader suffered injuries on his right ear, but the injuries are not life-threatening.

“I felt Mr. Trump is tough as he pumped his fist into the air (at the campaign event venue soon after the incident) despite suffering injuries on the ear,” Motegi said while showing an episode in which Trump called him tough regarding Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in the past.

IZUMI Kenta, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said on X that the shooting was a serious incident and prayed for Trump’s early recovery.

TAMAKI Yuichiro, head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, said, “Acts to sabotage elections and suppress speech with the use of violence must never be tolerated.”

JIJI Press