Japan's deputy PM Aso retracts controversial Hitler remarks, opposition slams la ...

Japan's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday retracted a controversial remark that could have been construed as him defending the reasoning behind Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany carrying out the Holocaust during World War II.

At a meeting of ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers belonging to his faction, held in Yokohama on Tuesday, Aso said that gaining results as a politician was important regardless of what motivated them to enter politics.

"Hitler, who killed millions of people, is no good even if his motive was right," Aso told his faction members.

Aso issued a statement on Wednesday retracting his remarks, saying, "It is clear that Hitler was wrong in his motive too. I want to retract my comment because it was inappropriate to cite him as an example."

Chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party's Diet affairs committee Kazunori Yamanoi blasted Aso's remarks as being a serious blunder and questioned his ability as a minister.

"The comment was extremely shameful as one made by a Cabinet minister. I cannot help but question his competence as a minister," Yamanoi said.

Aso, who has served previously as the nation's prime minister, is no stranger to political gaffes.

In July 2013, during a speech in which he referenced constitutional revision in Japan, he suggested that the Japanese government could learn from the way that Nazi Germany changed its Constitution before anyone knew.

He later retracted these remarks, but refused to apologize for them or offer to step down, rather he insisted that the comments had been taken out of context and as such he bore no responsibility.