Japan seeks truth about photographer's death

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan may suspend humanitarian aid to Myanmar once it has established the facts behind the killing of a Japanese photographer during anti-government protests, the top government spokesman said on Friday.

Photographer Kenji Nagai, 50, was shot dead on a Yangon street on Thursday. Pictures smuggled out of the country showed him taking photos with a small camera even as he lay dying.

"We will urge the Myanmar government to find out the truth about his death," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.

"At this stage we have not decided to suspend grant aid," Machimura said, adding Tokyo would watch responses by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) before deciding on sanctions.

Kyodo news agency quoted Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda as saying that, in a telephone conversation with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, he had urged Beijing to use its influence on Myanmar's junta.

"I asked that China, given its close ties with Myanmar, exercise its influence and Premier Wen said he will make such efforts," he told reporters.

Machimura said it was not clear whether the shooting of the photographer was deliberate or at close range, as some Japanese media had reported.

It was not clear whether Nagai was working officially or not. Myanmar rarely issues working visas to journalists, and Yangon's embassies around the world are known to keep blacklists of reporters who are routinely refused even tourist visas.