Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has denied he openly advocated a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if Pyongyang appeared poised to attack.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'Nobody was talking about a pre-emptive attack. That's what I have to make clear,' Abe told reporters Wednesday. 'I've been perplexed because criticism has been leveled against me over something that was not said.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>At a news conference Monday, Abe said one option allowable under the Constitution is to strike a foreign missile base 'when –

is being attacked with missiles" from that base. He added that an overseas first strike would fall within the legal parameters of self-defense "if there is no way to defend against an attack on Japan."

Those comments, which followed North Korea's test-launching of seven ballistic missiles that fell into the Sea of Japan, led to media reports worldwide that the hawkish Abe, a diplomatic hardliner, was advocating a pre-emptive strike.

One senior government official claimed Thursday that when Abe made the comment, he was thinking of a scenario in which several missiles had already been fired at Japan.

"That's different from the U.S. pre-emptive attack policy" of the Bush administration's National Security Strategy, which states the government can launch pre-emptive strikes, the official reckoned.