U.S. Ambassador to Japan Kennedy receives death threats by phone

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has received a number of death threats by phone from a male English speaker, local media reported Tuesday.

According to the reports, the U.S. embassy located in Tokyo's Minato Ward fielded calls in February from a man speaking English who said he was going to kill Kennedy.

While the U.S. embassy has declined to comment on the threats, sources close to the matter said Tuesday that the threats on the ambassador's life may have been connected to a scheme to blackmail Kennedy or the embassy.

Reports also stated that Alfred Magleby, the U.S. Consul General in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, has also received a number of death threats by phone.

Kennedy is the daughter of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy who himself was assassinated in 1963. She assumed the post of ambassador here in 2013 and is the first female to take the top post in Japan, which has traditionally seen high-profile Americans assume the position at the U.S. embassy here.

A former attorney and book editor who served as the president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Kennedy is known to be a staunch supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama and previously attempted to oust Hillary Clinton in the Senate after Clinton became Obama's Secretary of State.

The Harvard and Columbia graduate is known for her communication and interpersonal skills and is highly-regarded as forward-thinking and savvy political authority.

It is not known whether the U.S. embassy will release an official comment on the death threats, but local sources have confirmed that the Tokyo police have been investigating the threats on the ambassador's life. Endi