Yuriko Koike, Japan's national security adviser, has taken over as defense minister after Fumio Kyuma resigned over remarks seen as justifying the US atomic bombings of Japan, the government said yesterday.
Former Japanese defense minister Kyuma had come under an avalanche of criticism from A-bomb survivors, opposition lawmakers and fellow Cabinet members following the comments over the weekend. His resignation took effect immediately.
"I told Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe, `I'm sorry but I must take responsibility and resign.' The prime minister said, `That's very unfortunate ... but I accept your decision,'" Kyuma said.
PHOTO: AFP
Abe quickly named Koike, a popular female politician, to succeed Kyuma in hopes of stabilizing the government ahead of elections.
Kyuma ignited the furor on Saturday when he suggested that the US nuclear attacks -- which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians -- were justified as a way of ending the war before a Soviet invasion of Japan.
The statement contradicted the Japanese stance, fiercely held by survivors and their supporters, that the use of nuclear weapons is never acceptable.
Groups representing survivors quickly attacked Kyuma.
"That comment tramples on the feelings of the A-bomb victims, and as a target of the bomb, Nagasaki certainly cannot let this go by," Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue wrote in a protest letter handed to Kyuma yesterday morning.
The bomb comment hit Abe's increasingly unpopular government at a sensitive time, coming a few weeks before the July 29 elections.
A popularity poll earlier this week showed the government, which has been hit by a series of scandals, with less than 30 percent support.
Kyuma's repeated apologies and Abe's reprimand of his defense chief had failed to quell the furor, which yesterday sparked further public criticism among Abe's own ministers, several of whom called the comment inexcusable.
"I would feel sorry if I became a burden in the upcoming elections ... so I decided to resign," Kyuma told reporters.
The opposition had been preparing to submit a formal request for Kyuma's resignation later yesterday. Democratic Party of Japan Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama said the resignation was "natural."
"This is not something that just a resignation would resolve," he said. "Abe's appointment of him must also be questioned."
The offending comment came during a speech by Kyuma in Chiba, outside of Tokyo.
"I understand that the bombings ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," Kyuma said.
Kyuma said the US atomic bombings caused great suffering in the city, but otherwise Japan would have kept fighting and ended up losing a greater part of its northern territory to the Soviet Union, which invaded Manchuria on the day Nagasaki was bombed.
Kyuma's comments reflected an enduring debate over whether the bombings were necessary.
Washington has argued the bombs were needed to avoid a potentially bloody land invasion. Many, however, also suspect the US wanted to end the war before the Soviets -- who already occupied much of Europe, setting the stage for the Cold War -- could invade Japan.
On Aug. 6, 1945, the US dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 people. Three days later it dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, where about 74,000 people are estimated to have been killed.
The horrific toll of the bombs is at the core of Japan's postwar pacifist identity.
The government maintains bans on the possession, development or introduction of nuclear weapons in Japan.
More than six decades after the bombings, Japanese remain sensitive to anything surrounding nuclear technology and the military.
A civic group opposed to the stationing of a US nuclear-powered aircraft on yesterday filed suit to block the deployment.
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