Abe seeks explanation over alleged U.S. spying in talks with Joe Biden: report

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked the U.S. government to look into the alleged spying activities on the Japanese government and companies raised by the Wikileaks website in telephone talks with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday, local media reported.

In the call, Abe asked for an explanation and told Biden that if the alleged spying is true, it would damage the relationship between the two allies, Japan's Kyodo News Agency cited a government source as reporting.

Biden offered an apology, the report said, but it has not been confirmed by the U.S. government.

In Washington, the White House said in a news release that the vice president spoke with Abe over phone, in which he "reaffirmed the United States' commitment made by President Obama in a 2014 presidential directive to focus on our intelligence collection on national security interests."

Biden underscored the U.S. commitment to the two countries' alliance and thanked Abe for his enduring partnership, said the statement.

The Wikileaks website on last Friday posted U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) reports and a list of 35 Japanese targets for telephone intercepts, including the Japanese Cabinet Office, the Bank of Japan, the country's finance and trade ministries, and major Japanese trading companies.

According to the website, the eavesdropping dated back to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first government in 2006, and one report from telephone intercepts of senior Japanese officials could have been shared with Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand -- the U.S. intelligence partners. Endi