This essay traces Asahi Shimbun’s reporting stance on the comfort women issue, historical issues, and the North Korean abduction issue, as well as the beginning of its confrontation with Shinzo Abe.
It sharply follows the process by which criticism of Asahi’s past reporting intensified in the wake of Koizumi’s visit to North Korea and the return of some abductees.

2019-06-06
At the point when, in the following September of Heisei 14, during “Koizumi’s visit to North Korea,” North Korea admitted the abduction of Japanese citizens and some of the abductees returned home, criticism of Asahi Shimbun’s past reporting grew louder.

The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The Outbreak of the Abe vs. Asahi Struggle.
Even after this, Asahi Shimbun’s reporting that demeaned Japan continued, yet its circulation kept increasing steadily.
Heisei 5 was the year in which Shinzo Abe, who would later become Asahi’s archenemy, won his first election to the House of Representatives, but at that time the morning edition maintained a circulation of 8,228,960, and the evening edition also remained above 4,500,000.
Up until Heisei 10, Asahi Shimbun spoke on behalf of China and South Korea regarding the comfort women issue and historical issues, ignored North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens, and kept insisting that nuclear weapons and missiles were “not something to make a great fuss about.”
The tide began to change around the time when the twentieth century ended and a new century began.
At the same time, the struggle between Shinzo Abe and Asahi also began.
In Heisei 13, Mr. Abe, who had been appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, was probably attacked on Asahi’s front page for the first time.
It was an article concerning the handling of the Ehime Maru accident.
From around this time, so-called internet public opinion also gradually began to emerge.
After the Koizumi administration was formed in Heisei 13, voices began to rise in support of the prime minister’s visits to Yasukuni Shrine, and at the point when, in the following September of Heisei 14, during “Koizumi’s visit to North Korea,” North Korea admitted the abduction of Japanese citizens and some of the abductees returned home, criticism of Asahi Shimbun’s past reporting grew louder.
Yet even so, its circulation remained firm, and the morning edition maintained 8,284,513 copies.
To be continued.