Japan official 1945 nuclear bombs 'crime'

TOKYO, Dec 18: A senior Japanese ruling party politician called the 1945 U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan a crime in a speech in Nagasaki at the weekend, the daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said today.

Shoichi Nakagawa, the policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, sparked a controversy earlier in the year by saying that pacifist Japan should debate acquiring its own nuclear weapons.

''Morally speaking, I really cannot forgive the US decision to drop them,'' the paper quoted Nakagawa as saying. ''Dropping the nuclear bombs was a crime.'' The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two.

Japan officially interprets its pacifist constitution as allowing the possession of small nuclear weapons for defensive purposes.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however, has repeatedly said Japan will maintain its non-nuclear stance, after North Korea's nuclear test in October sparked some speculation that Tokyo might be tempted to follow suit.

Abe also said there would be no official discussion of the issue in parliament or within the ruling party.

''Is it enough for Japan's politicians simply to pray (for peace)?'' the Nikkei quoted Nakagawa as saying.

''The area around Japan is covered with nuclear weapons. They say they are for deterrence, but recently some countries have emerged who seem likely to use them in the event of a disagreement,'' the paper quoted Nakagawa as saying.

REUTERS