( dpa ) - Japan's Defence Ministry dismissed about 80 of its officials Friday in response to mismanagement in the navy that has caused a series of accidents since last year.
The mass firings were carried out to restore public confidence in the Defence Ministry since the collision last month between the destroyer Atago and a fishing boat, a leak of confidential information on a radar system and a major fire on the destroyer Shirane last year.
Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba dismissed the vice defence minister, chief admiral and officers in the Maritime Self-Defence Force because they were too slow to inform Ishiba and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of the collision, Ishiba said at a press conference.
In addition, Ishiba, the senior vice defence minister and two parliamentary defence secretaries would return some of their salaries to state coffers, the Kyodo News Agency quoted the minister as saying.