Aso withdraws gaffe about Hitler

August 30, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday withdrew a remark he made the previous day about Germany's wartime dictator Adolf Hitler.

"It was inappropriate to cite Hitler as an example and I want to withdraw the remark," Aso said in a statement.

At a workshop of his faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday, Aso said Hitler "was no good even if his motive was right."

"I wanted to say that achieving results is everything to politicians. To stress this point, I took Hitler as an example of a bad politician," Aso said Wednesday.

In 2013, Aso drew criticism for saying that Japan could learn from the Nazis' technique for amending the constitution. This comment was also quickly withdrawn. Jiji Press