A senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday apologized for remarks she made about victims of the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japanese media reported.
In a speech in Kobe on Monday, LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi suggested that no one was killed in the Fukushima nuclear accident, and she called for restarting Japan's idling nuclear plants while ensuring their safety.
The remarks caused a stir in the LDP and the party's Fukushima chapter secretary Takao Hiraide took up the matter with the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
He said more than 1,400 people in the Fukushima prefecture were recognized as having died as a result of the disaster. They include people who died because of the stresses of evacuation and those who killed themselves due to anxiety.
Hiraide said Takaichi's remarks were inappropriate and that they lacked consideration for the people of Fukushima. He demanded withdrawal of the remarks and an apology from Takaichi.
Talking to reporters later, Takaichi retracted the remarks and apologized for offending Fukushima residents and LDP members who are devoting themselves to reconstruction efforts.
The March 11, 2011 earthquake-triggered tsunami wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant where four of its reactors suffered meltdown, sending out radiation that contaminated water and food forcing more than 150,000 residents to evacuate. Most of the evacuees are still living in makeshift shelters as decontamination work is yet to pick up even after two years of the disaster, the biggest since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Most of Japan's 50-odd nuclear reactors are remaining idle since the Fukushima disaster as the country's nuclear watchdog insisted stricter safety measures.
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