Foreign minister under fire in Nagasaki for comment on nuclear weapons via The Asahi Shimbun

NAGASAKI–Atomic bomb survivors here blasted Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida for his remark that seemed to condone the use of nuclear weapons in certain situations.

“Some nuclear powers have broadly defined the potential use of their nuclear arms,” Kishida said during a lecture session at Nagasaki University on Jan. 20. “But I believe they must declare that their use should at least be limited to extreme circumstances defined by the right to individual and collective self-defense.”

The foreign minister was presenting “pragmatic steps” toward nuclear disarmament before an audience of about 180 who had applied for seats.

When one hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor, in the audience asked if the foreign minister approved of a nuclear war, Kishida replied: “I was just citing an example as part of discussions in the process of making what forward steps we can take at present. By no means am I saying that Japan will endorse the use of nuclear weapons.”

A second-generation hibakusha who attended the session said Kishida’s remark goes against sentiment in Nagasaki, which was flattened by an atomic bomb at the end of World War II in 1945.

“There is a belief in Nagasaki, which experienced the atomic bombing, that nuclear arms should never be used,” he said. “I cannot accept that there is leeway for a limited use.”

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“I cannot find any determination (in Kishida’s remark) that Japan will take the initiative toward abolishing nuclear arms,” former Nagasaki University President Hideo Tsuchiyama, 88, told The Asahi Shimbun.

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One Response to Foreign minister under fire in Nagasaki for comment on nuclear weapons via The Asahi Shimbun

  1. yukimiyamotodepaul says:

    It is bizarre that I cannot find an article in Japanese (not even in Asahi Shimbun), reporting that the audience in Nagasaki expressed dissatisfaction toward Minister Kishida’s remarks.

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