JAPANESE COPS FRET AS DIPLOMATS PAID ONLY 25% OF PARKING FINES

Fines for parking offenses involving foreign diplomats based in Japan were collected in only a quarter of cases last year as they were protected by diplomatic immunity, according to the National Police Agency (NPA), Kyodo news service reported.

Police spotted around 2,600 vehicles with diplomatic license plates illegally parked in 2019, with drivers not paying fines in about 75 percent of cases, an NPA official told parliament.

In 2018, parking offenses involving vehicles with diplomatic license plates stood at 3,948, the NPA official added. As of Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry has issued 1,982 special license plates for diplomats stationed in Japan, according to the ministry. The NPA official said it is difficult to collect fines from diplomats as they have immunity based on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The police collected fines in about 81 percent of cases of parking violations committed by ordinary drivers in the country in 2019, he added.

Opposition lawmaker Shinkun Haku, who asked about the figures during a session of the House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, described the failure to pay as "a big problem" and criticized the offenders. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at the session that the parking offenses were "extremely regrettable" and that his ministry will continue to warn foreign diplomats in Japan to comply with traffic rules in the country.