Japan’s defence minister resigns
JAPAN: Japanese Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma resigned Tuesday
after sparking outrage with remarks seen as justifying the World War II
atomic bombings of Japan by the United States.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, facing plummeting public support just
weeks ahead of key elections, accepted the resignation.
“Things developed in a different direction than I expected and I
can’t gain people’s understanding,” Kyuma told reporters after meeting
with Abe.
“I told the prime minister that I will resign,” he said. “And the
prime minister accepted my offer.”
Kyuma sparked anger Saturday when he said that the nuclear attacks on
Japan by the United States “couldn’t be helped.”
The controversy comes at a delicate time for Abe, who is battling to
avoid a heavy defeat in the July 29 upper house elections that analysts
say would be likely to prompt calls for his own resignation.
Kyuma, who represents Nagasaki in parliament, on Sunday apologised
during a news conference in the southern port city for his remarks,
which were denounced by ruling party and opposition lawmakers as well as
victims of the attacks.
But his apology failed to settle the row, with the head of the ruling
party’s junior coalition partner New Komeito earlier calling for his
resignation.
“He is responsible for making remarks that caused people’s
misunderstanding, although he argues that was not what he had intended,”
New Komeito secretary general Kazuo Kitagawa told reporters following
the resignation.
“I think he himself made the judgement properly and swiftly.”
Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the largest opposition
Democratic Party, said Kyuma’s decision was unavoidable.
“He should have resigned soon after he made the remarks,” added
Hatoyama.
Some 100 demonstrators staged a rally at Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park
on Monday, carrying a banner protesting that the defence minister’s
remarks “would lead to the justification of nuclear bombings.”
Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue held talks with Kyuma on Tuesday and
asked him to keep to “the policy of seeking to abolish nuclear weapons,”
while Kyuma apologised again to the mayor.
On August 9, 1945 a US nuclear bomb, codenamed “Fat Man” after
British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, killed more than
70,000 people in Nagasaki.
The bomb was even larger than “Little Boy” which was dropped three
days earlier on Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people. Japan
surrendered on August 15, ending World War II.
Tokyo, Tuesday, AFP |
