A-bombings 'couldn't be helped': Kyuma

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said Saturday he thinks the dropping of the atomic bombs by the U.S. in the closing days of World War II "could not be helped," as it was aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan.

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma says he doesn't "hold a grudge" against the U.S. for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombings. KYODO PHOTO

"I understand the bombings brought the war to its end. I think it was something that couldn't be helped," Kyuma said in a speech at a university in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.

The remarks may become another headache for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which has been already gripped by the pension fiasco and other scandals, ahead of the July 29 House of Councilors election.

Though Prime Minister Abe defended Kyuma, saying, "I understand that he was presenting the thinking of the United States in those days," the remarks drew immediate criticism from atomic bomb victims.

It is rare for Cabinet ministers in the only nation to suffer an atomic bombing to make such remarks.

The U.S. "dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki even though it knew Japan would lose the war," said Kyuma, who represents the Nagasaki No. 2 district. He said the U.S. must have thought the use of an atomic bomb would prompt Japan's surrender, thus preventing the Soviet Union from declaring war against Japan.

"Luckily Hokkaido was not occupied. In the worst case, Hokkaido could have been taken by the Soviet Union," he said. "I don't hold a grudge against the United States."

Kyuma said he still wonders whether the bombings were absolutely necessary because the U.S. victory was certain.

Considering international circumstances and occupied Japan's situation after the war, "One should bear in mind that such a thing (bombing) could be an option," he said.

On Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 people in the world's first atomic bomb attack.

Three days later, it dropped another atomic bomb, "Fat Man," on Nagasaki. City officials say about 74,000 died.

Kyuma has a record of upsetting Washington with a string of comments after assuming his post last September. In January, he said the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was "wrong."

This time he angered the victims of atomic bombs.

"The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many American lives," said Nobuo Miyake, 78, director general of a group of victims living in Tokyo. "It's outrageous for a Japanese politician to voice such thinking. Japan is a victim."

Kazushi Kaneko, 81, head of a group of survivors in Hiroshima, said Kyuma "ignores the fact that many A-bomb survivors are still suffering today." Bomb survivors have developed various illnesses from radiation exposure, including cancer and liver diseases.

In Nagasaki, Nobuto Hirano, 60, a child of an A-bomb victim, said the remarks are unacceptable and inappropriate, considering that Kyuma is elected from a Nagasaki district.

"It is unforgivable to make comments that justify the dropping of the A-bombs," Hirano said. "I'm more depressed than angry."

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said, "The use of nuclear weapons constitutes the indiscriminate massacre of ordinary citizens, and it cannot be justified for any reason."

Speaking in the city of Nagasaki, Nobel prizewinning novelist Kenzaburo Oe said Kyuma's remarks are "meaningless and criminal," adding that a lawmaker must be critical of nuclear weapons, the largest burden borne by human beings, if he or she seriously seeks peace in the future.

Kyuma defended his controversial comments, saying, "It is regrettable if I gave the impression that I approved the dropping of the A-bombs."

1 In the U.S., the bombings are 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 also some Americans — believe President Harry Truman's government had other motives: a wish to test a terrifying weapon, the desire to defeat Japan before the Soviet Union arrived, and the need to strengthen Washington's hand against Moscow in what would become the Cold War.