Japan should discuss whether to allow the U. S. to place atomic weapons on its territory following North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday.
Japan should discuss whether to allow the U. S. to place atomic weapons on its territory following North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday.
« It’s no good to avoid even having a debate, » Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo. « The North has this nuclear capability, so the situation is completely different from when it didn’ t. »
Kyodo News earlier cited him as saying in a televised interview that holding a debate would bolster the deterrent effect of Japan’s alliance with the U. S. Japan has been discussing with its main ally and other governments how to ratchet up pressure on Kim Jong Un after North Korea tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb.
The only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, Japan has maintained a ban on atomic weapons for half a century in line with its pacifist constitution.
