Tim Cook honors Shinzo Abe following assassination

News
By Stephen Warwick
published

Tim Cook
Tim Cook (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on Friday.
  • Apple CEO Tim Cook has honored him.
  • He said that Abe was an important leader who Cook was "honored" to have spent time with.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has honored the late Shinzo Abe after the former Japanese Prime minister was assassinated on Friday.

In a tweet Friday morning Cook stated:

I am shocked by the loss of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. He was such an important leader and I was honored to have spent time with him. Our hearts are with his loved ones—and all of our friends in Japan.

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Cook met the then-serving Prime Minister while on a tour of Japan in 2016 (pictured). He praised the innovation of Japan at the time, stating that the iPhone would not have been born without it, and hailed Japan's software developers, having met some as young as eight on the trip.

Abe

Abe (Image credit: Prime Minister's Office Japan)

At the time Abe's office said it wanted to make Japan "the easiest country in the world to do business in" and that it would "make steady efforts to understand the merits of Japan and to ensure that foreign companies that make use of it can invest in Japan more and more."

Abe died in hospital on Friday after he was shot twice at a political campaign event. He was giving a speech in Nara when he was attacked by a 41-year-old gunman, who is now in custody. Japan's current PM Fumio Kishida denounced the attack as "barbaric and malicious" and said, "this attack is an act of brutality that happened during the elections - the very foundation of our democracy - and is absolutely unforgivable." Footage from the scene appears to show the suspect, a local resident, had used a handmade gun in the attack.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9