Japan: Minister apologises for A-bomb remarks

Defence minister Fumio Kyuma apologised today for saying the US atomic bombings of Japan during the Second World War “couldn’t be helped”.

The minister, who said yesterday that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inevitable, drew sharp criticism from survivors, and some opposition MPs called for his dismissal.

“I am sorry if my comments gave the impression I disrespect the victims,” Kyuma was quoted as saying by Kyodo News agency during a press conference in Nagasaki, where he is from.

“I will refrain from making such comments.”

Kyuma had said during a speech: “I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn’t be helped.”

The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of the war, in the world’s only nuclear attacks.

The apology came after survivors demanded that Kyuma retract his comments.

“The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed the two cities at once ... killing hundreds of thousands of people,” said Terumi Tanaka, secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo, an A-bomb survivors’ group.

“His remarks are nothing but verbal abuse ... We demand the minister retract his comments immediately.”

The opposition Social Democratic Party called for Kyuma’s removal from office.

“We will question Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe’s appointment of him and we will call for the minister’s dismissal,” said party policy chief Tomoko Abe on TV Asahi today, before the apology was reported.

Kyuma told reporters later yesterday that he meant to say the bombing “could not be helped from the American point of view”.

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 people. Three days later it dropped another on Nagasaki, where city officials say about 74,000 died. Japan surrendered on August 15.

Bomb survivors have developed various illnesses, including cancer and liver diseases, from radiation exposure.

In the US, the bombs were widely seen as a weapon of last resort against an enemy that was determined to fight to the death, but instead surrendered unconditionally six days after Nagasaki was attacked.

Critics – including many Japanese and some Americans – believe US president Harry Truman’s government had other motives: a wish to test a terrifying weapon and the need to strengthen Washington’s hand against Moscow in what would become the Cold War.