Yuriko Koike, 55, a former national security advisor in the Japanese Cabinet was nominated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for defense minister Tuesday. She stressed a priority of her post should be given to reinforcing Japan's defense capability in light of the existing situation in East Asia, as well as the problem of redeploying U.S. military bases in Japan.
She also said she would like to "help restore public trust in the Abe government."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said he had high expectations for Koike, who has developed extensive contacts and studied security issues.
Koike replaces Fumio Kyuma who resigned Tuesday, which the prime minister accepted. In his comments made over the weekend, Kyuma, from Nagasaki, said the bombing caused great suffering in the city, but he did not resent the U.S. nuclear attacks because they prevented the Soviet Union from occupying the island of Hokkaido.
The statement came under fierce criticism from public organizations representing survivors of the atomic bombings, opposition lawmakers, and even several Cabinet members.
Kyuma's comments seriously weakened the position of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party less than a month before July 29 elections for the upper house of parliament. Recent polls indicated the dwindling popularity of the increasingly unpopular government, led by Shinzo Abe, hitting a record low of 30%.
The majority of Japanese people strongly believe that the U.S. atomic bombings caused grave harm to Japan and can never be justified.
The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II, in the world's only nuclear attacks. The bombs killed at least 215,000 people and survivors have developed various illnesses from the exposure to radiation, including cancer and liver disease.
