Japan's Aso says OK to debate going nuclear

TOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said today there was nothing wrong with Tokyo discussing whether the country should possess nuclear weapons, although he stressed that Tokyo would stick to its decades-old policy of not arming itself with atomic bombs.

Aso echoed contentious views expressed on Sunday by Shoichiro Nakagawa, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, that Japan needs to discuss whether it should possess nuclear weapons in response to North Korea's nuclear test.

''When a country next to us comes to have (nuclear weapons), we can't consider, we can't talk, we can't do anything and we can't exchange opinions. That's one way of thinking,'' Aso told a lower house panel on foreign affairs. ''I believe it is important to have various discussions on it (possessing nuclear weapons) as one more way of thinking.'' He made the remarks as lawmakers discussed what Japan should do in response to North Korea's nuclear test on October 9.

''The reality is that it is only Japan that has not discussed possessing nuclear weapons, and all other countries have been discussing it,'' Aso said.

But he said Japan's government would stick to its self-imposed ''three non-nuclear principles'' of not possessing, producing and bringing in nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave assurances this week that Japan, the only country to have suffered from the effects of nuclear bombing, would never go nuclear.

A report by Republicans on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee just days before Pyongyang carried out its nuclear test had warned that such a move might push not just Japan but also South Korea and Taiwan into starting nuclear weapons programmes, posing a serious risk to regional stability.

Reuters DKA DB1111