Ishiba reiterates want for nuclear deterrence regardless of group’s Nobel Prize

A day after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a grassroots group of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday reiterated his view that nuclear deterrence is required in an more and more fraught safety surroundings.

“I need to make it possible for one thing like (the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombings) by no means occurs once more,” Ishiba mentioned in response to a query about nuclear abolition, throughout a debate with different party leaders within the run-up to the Oct. 27 Lower House election.

But, pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine — which gave up its nuclear weapons after the dissolution of the Soviet Union — he burdened the significance of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for Japan’s safety.