Tokyo ? Japan’s embattled defense minister resigned Tuesday over his comments suggesting the 1945 atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inevitable.

Fumio Kyuma had come under intense criticism from survivors of the bombings, opposition lawmakers and fellow members of the Cabinet following the comments over the weekend.

“I told Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe, ‘I’m sorry but I must take responsibility and resign.’ The prime minister said, ‘That’s very unfortunate … but I accept your decision,'” Kyuma told reporters.

Kyuma ignited a political furor less than a month before parliamentary elections when he said on Saturday that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and his native Nagasaki were an inevitable way of ending World War II.

The statement contradicted the Japanese stance, fiercely guarded by survivors and their supporters, that the use of nuclear weapons is never justified. A ban on possession of such weapons is a pillar Japan’s postwar pacifist regime.