Japan has no intention of going nuclear but there is still room for debate on the issue, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday as he defended key Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who have been criticized for comments suggesting that the matter needs to be discussed.
At a head-to-head debate in the Upper House with Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, Abe repeatedly stressed that his Cabinet, LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa and Foreign Minister Taro Aso remain committed to the country's three nonnuclear principles -- not to develop, possess or allow the entry of nuclear weapons into Japan.
But Abe said it would be going too far to stifle debate on the issue, adding that more North Korean atomic tests would only intensify calls in Japan for debate on whether the nation should adopt a nuclear deterrent.