Kyuma says US atomic bomb attack on Japan was 'inevitable'

Tokyo: Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma said yesterday that the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan by the United States during World War II was inevitable.

"I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," Kyuma said in a speech at a university in Chiba, just east of Tokyo.

The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II, in the world's only nuclear attacks.

Kyuma, who is from Nagasaki, said the bombing caused great suffering in the city. Part of his speech was aired by public broadcaster NHK. He also said he did not resent the US because the bombs prevented the Soviet Union from entering the war with Japan, according to Kyodo News agency.

'Little Boy'

It is rare for Japanese Cabinet ministers to make such remarks, which were quickly criticised by atomic bomb victims.

However, Kyuma said later that his comments had been misinterpreted. He told reporters he meant to say the bombing "could not be helped from the American point of view". "It's too bad that my comments were interpreted as approving the US bombing," he said.

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped a 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.

Bombing survivors have developed various illnesses from radiation exposure, including cancer and liver diseases. "The US justifies the bombings saying they saved 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."