Japanese prime minister cancels NATO summit attendance

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday canceled his scheduled appearance at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit due to "various circumstances," as world and defense leaders head to The Netherlands.

The NATO summit is expected to begin Tuesday and conclude Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in The Hague. 

Ishiba announced his attendance Friday, but the Japanese government has since said Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will attend instead. 

The exact reason for the change was not immediately clear, but Fuji Television reported Ishiba was pulling out because an expected meeting between NATO and the group of four Indo-Pacific nations is not likely to take place, per Reuters. 

South Korea and Australia, which are also part of the four Indo-Pacific countries, are also not expected to send their leaders to the summit. 

Japan's leader has been attending NATO summits every year since 2022, when it was invited after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

President Donald Trump is expected to attend the summit, where leaders will discuss increasing each country's defense spending to 5% of its Gross Domestic Product.  The United States currently spends 3.4% of its GDP on defense.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.