Monday’s Sankei claimed that during his meeting with Secretary Tillerson in Tokyo on Thursday, Foreign Minister Kishida took issue with the reference in the State Department’s human rights report to “pressure on freedom of the press” by the Abe administration. Kishida stressed that the USG misinterpreted Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi’s repeated statements at the Diet on the possible suspension of broadcasting licenses for violating statutes mandating “politically impartial reporting,” adding that the GOJ has never applied pressure on the media.