TOKYO, Japan — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by renewing his commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free Japan, following criticism for not making the same pledge on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing last week.
"As the only nation in the world to have suffered a war-time nuclear attack, I have renewed my resolve to play a leading role in pursuing a world without nuclear weapons and maintain the three non-nuclear principles," Abe said in Nagasaki Peace Park.
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The "three non-nuclear principles" are Japan's long-standing policy of not possessing or producing nuclear arms and not letting others bring them into the country.
Japan's defense minister triggered a new row over controversial security legislation on Wednesday when he said the bills under consideration by parliament would not rule out the military transporting the nuclear weapons of foreign forces.
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Abe's cabinet adopted a resolution last year reinterpreting the pacifist constitution, drafted by Americans after World War II, to let Japan exercise collective self-defense, or defend an ally under attack.
The unpopular bills have already passed the lower house and Abe's ruling bloc has a majority in the upper house as well. But surveys show a majority of voters are opposed to what would be a significant shift in Japan's defense policy.
