Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday defended Japan's provision of ammunition to U.N. peacekeeping forces in South Sudan as part of its "proactive" contribution to world peace and as the bloodshed in the new North African nation intensifies.
The supply late Monday of 10,000 bullets to the South Korean military engaged in an evacuation mission in South Sudan was criticized by opposition parties, which said the government had made the action exceptional to the country's self-imposed ban on arms exports without sufficient discussion.
"We made the move in accordance with our proactive pacifism," Abe told a gathering of executives from his Liberal Democratic Party. "If we had refused, it would have led to international criticism" of Japan.