April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, who said in January that the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was ``wrong,'' denied criticizing President George W. Bush and said Japan-U.S. relations hadn't been damaged by the remark.

``I never said the war itself was wrong,'' Kyuma said in an April 4 interview in his office. ``To do it or not do it was America's decision. If I were Bush, I might have done so, too.''

On January 24 at the Japan Press Club, Kyuma said, ``President Bush went to war on the presumption that there might be nuclear weapons. That decision was wrong.''

The comments, and remarks days later by Foreign Minister Taro Aso calling U.S. policy in Iraq ``naive,'' caused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to tell his ministers to watch their words. The criticism of the U.S. indicated dwindling support for the war from its closest ally in Asia.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney asked not to meet with Kyuma during his Tokyo visit in February because of the remarks, Kyodo News reported, a charge the defense minister denied. Kyuma will visit the U.S. at the end of month and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates for the first time.

`Paid the Price'

``He's figured it's polite to soften his previous statement before he meets with Mr. Gates in Washington,'' said Robert Dujarric, an expert on U.S.-Japan security and director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. ``He paid the price of not seeing Vice President Cheney for his previous remarks.''

Kyuma said he and Gates will discuss a plan to shift 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam.

``I'd like to start off by what Japan and the U.S. have decided regarding the U.S. troop relocations,'' he said. Relations between the two countries ``are very good.''

Kyuma on Jan. 27 said the U.S. ``doesn't understand'' how to handle the relocation of the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station on Okinawa and in the interview said to ``leave our issue to us.'' The two countries last May agreed to build a new heliport, with v-shaped runways to reduce flight patterns over Okinawa homes, on reclaimed land on another part of the island. The plan has run into opposition from local citizens and politicians.

Missile Defense

The 66-year-old Kyuma became the country's first defense minister in January when the ministry was upgraded from that of a government agency. Japan is expanding its security role, dispatching ground troops to Iraq from January 2004 to last July, and spending more on ballistic missile defense. Japan needs a strong alliance with the U.S., especially after North Korea's nuclear test in October, he said.

Japan and the U.S. are jointly developing ballistic missile defense parts, an exception to Japan's ban on arms exports. Kyuma said this principle shouldn't be mechanically applied.

``There will be more cases other than missile defense to decide case by case,'' he said. ``It would give a wrong message to other countries if Japan starts developing many weapons that are exported to other countries.''

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said last month that Japan should increase its military spending, which has declined every year for the past five. Japan has an unofficial cap to keep defense spending at no more than 1 percent of gross domestic spending. Kyuma said breaking that custom would be difficult.

Thick Wall

``As a minister in charge of defense, it's painful to see the defense budget is capped,'' he said. ``The wall is very thick.''

Defense spending for the fiscal year that began April 1 is 4.80 trillion yen ($40.4 billion), down 3.1 percent from 4.96 trillion yen five years ago.

The country is spending more on missile defense, and a week ago began deploying its first ballistic missile defense system in the Tokyo area, a year ahead of schedule. Two Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptors were installed at Iruma Air Base. The schedule was speeded-up in response to North Korea's testing firing of seven missiles into the Sea of Japan in July, followed by its atomic bomb test.

``We'll deploy the missile defense system quickly to prepare for the worse,'' he said.

Last Updated: April 5, 2007 21:45 EDT