Japanese FM: We could build nuclear bomb but won't

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Japan has the technological know-how to produce a nuclear weapon, but has no immediate plans to do so, the foreign minister told a parliamentary committee Thursday. Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who has called for discussion of Japan's non-nuclear policy, also asserted in Parliament that the pacifist constitution does not forbid possession of an atomic bomb for defense. "Japan is capable of producing nuclear weapons," Aso told a parliamentary committee on security issues. "But we are not saying we have plans to possess nuclear weapons." Japan, the only country ever attacked by atomic weapons, has for decades espoused a strict policy of not possessing, developing or allowing the introduction of nuclear bombs on its territory.