The Japan Coast Guard said Wednesday an officer who admitted leaking a video of collisions between a Chinese fishing trawler and two coastguard vessels had resigned from the service.
Masaharu Isshiki, 43, had been suspended for one year for uploading a video of the incident to YouTube, an offence for which other coastguard officers had also been punished, including the chief of the entire agency.
Police have also handed a criminal case involving Isshiki to prosecutors over his possible breach of confidentiality obligations, as Tokyo attempts to repair ties with Beijing over the maritime crash, Jiji Press reported.
The video, recorded by the coastguard, showed a Chinese fishing trawler colliding with two Japanese coastguard vessels in the East China Sea in early September.
The collision took place near the disputed but uninhabited chain of islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Japan's arrest of the trawler's captain sparked a barrage of protests from Beijing that continued after Japan released him, sending diplomatic relations plunging to their lowest point in years.
Isshiki has reportedly admitted that he uploaded the video to YouTube, in a move that risked inflaming the feud between China and Japan.
Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki, who heads the coastguard, told reporters that Isshiki had resigned being suspended for one year.
The agency also punished roughly two dozen other officers, including Suzuki himself, for failing to supervise Isshiki.
Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi separately told reporters that he will take a cut of one month's pay over the incident.
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