Blackmail letter sent to Abe's wife

NHK -- Mar 17

A blackmail letter has been sent to a restaurant owned by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie.

Sources say the restaurant in Tokyo received the letter on Thursday. They say the writer threatens Akie Abe and the prime minister's mother. The staff contacted the police.

Opposition parties are turning up the heat on Abe's ruling party over the controversial sale of state-owned land to a school operator after the Finance Ministry admitted altering documents related to the land transaction.

Akie Abe was initially set to become the honorary principal of an elementary school that the operator planned to open on the site.

Opposition parties have been demanding that she give sworn testimony in the Diet. But the ruling parties continue to refuse the requests, saying the prime minister's wife has nothing to do with the document alterations.

Mar 17 (ANNnewsCH) - 安倍総理大臣の妻の昭恵氏が経営する東京都内の飲食店に、昭恵氏を脅迫しているとみられるはがきが届いていたことが分かりました。