Asia-Pacific

Japan minister apologises for atomic-bomb remarks

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-01 15:53

TOKYO - Japan's defence minister apologised on Sunday for comments about the 1945 U.S. atomic bomb attacks on the country which outraged survivors and drew criticism from the ruling bloc ahead of a key election in late July.

Japan's Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma speaks during a plenary session at the IISS Asia Security Summit in this June 2, 2007 file photo, in Singapore. Kyuma said the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan by the United States during World War II was an inevitable way to end the war, a news report said Saturday, June 30, 2007. 'I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped,' Kyodo News agency quoted Kyuma as saying in a speech at a university in Chiba, just east of Tokyo.[Reuters]

Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma said he had not meant to offend the victims when he said on Saturday the bombings "couldn't be helped" because they had brought World War Two to an end and had prevented the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan.

"If my remarks were seen as lacking regard for the feelings of atomic bomb victims, then I am sorry," he told a news conference.

On Saturday, Kyuma had said in a speech: "My understanding is that it ended the war and that it couldn't be helped ... I don't hold a grudge against the United States."

The remarks drew condemnation from victims of the August 6. 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and the August 9 attack on Nagasaki, which together killed more than 210,000 people by the end of the year. Some opposition parties demanded Kyuma's resignation.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended his minister on Saturday, but ruling party executives urged Kyuma to apologise, in a bid to minimise the damage ahead of the July 29 upper house election.

"If the comments were misunderstood, then he should explain and apologise," Shoichi Nakagawa, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said earlier on Sunday.

Abe has seen his support ratings drop to around 30 percent recently largely due to voter anger over the government's mishandling of pension records.

Officials in Japan -- the only nation to suffer an atomic bombing -- typically express sympathy for the victims, but most avoid criticising the attacks out of consideration for Tokyo's ties with Washington, its closest ally.

Defenders of the bombings say they convinced Japan to surrender and saved lives that would otherwise have been lost had fighting continued. Critics say the United States used the bombs to bolster its post-war position against the Soviet Union.