Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reacted angrily to U.S. congressional testimony that appeared to validate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Speaking at the May 10 session of the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kamikawa said, “(The remarks) were inappropriate and totally unacceptable.”
She followed up by arranging for letters to be posted to the U.S. side explaining Japan’s position.
The matter stemmed from a May 8 session of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, where the topic concerned a possible delay in providing weapons to Israel in its war against Hamas.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, asked Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “Would you have supported the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II?”
Brown seemed stumped by the question, so Graham followed up by asking, “In hindsight, do you think it was the right decision for America to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese?”
Brown replied, “I’ll say it stopped a world war.”
Graham asked the same question of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who replied, “I agree with the chairman.”
At the May 10 Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee session, Kamikawa was asked about the exchange at the U.S. Senate committee session.
She stated: “We cannot accept having Sen. Graham bring up the topic of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while the discussion was about the current situation in the Middle East.”
Noting that the atomic bombings claimed “many precious lives and caused indescribable suffering in the form of illness and disabilities,” she said “the use of nuclear weapons does not fit the spirit of humanitarianism that is the ideological foundation for international law because of the tremendous destructive capability and lethal force of such weapons.”
While she did not provide details of what was contained in the documents, Kamikawa said letters had been sent to Graham’s office as well as the U.S. government.
[https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15263407](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15263407)
by Wild_Ebb5097
