Japanese defense minister apologizes over atomic bombing comments http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/01/content_6314440.htm
www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-01
TOKYO, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma apologized Sunday over controversial comments he made Saturday saying that atomic bombing near the end of World War II "could not be helped."
"I am sorry that my remarks gave an impression that A-bomb victims were made light of," Kyuma said at a press conference in Shimabara, Nagasaki prefecture, according to Kyodo News.
In a speech he made Saturday at a university in Chiba prefecture, the minister said that "I understood the bombing (in Nagasaki) brought the war to its end. I think it was something that couldn't be helped."
Kyuma said Saturday that the bombing was aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan. "One should bear in the mind that such a thing (bombing) could be an option," he said.
The remarks immediately drew criticism from atomic bomb victims, government officials and opposition parties, adding challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has already been under mounting pressure before the Upper House election slated on July 29.
Kyuma said at the press conference that "there were inappropriate points as my remarks were reported in that way." He added that he had no intention of justifying the atomic bombings, saying he has been consistently sticking to the position of pursuing nuclear disarmament.
Immediately after he made the controversial comments on Saturday, some bomb survivors said his understanding of the attacks were "unforgivable". According to local media, Nobel prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe said that Kyuma's remarks are "meaningless and criminal."
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and another one on Nagasaki three days later, marking the world's first atomic bomb attacks.
Hidenao Nakagawa, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) talked with Kyuma over the phone Sunday before his press conference and told him to withdraw his remarks as they were misinterpreted, Kyodo News said.
LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa said on a TV program that "If the remarks were misinterpreted, (Kyuma) should explain and make an apology if necessary." New Komeito policy chief Tetsuo Saito said a Cabinet minister should have made no such comments.
Opposition party officials including Naoto Kan, deputy president of the Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Communist Party chairman Kazuo Shii also rapped his comments.
Editor: Sun Yunlong
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