Japan confirms secret nuclear pacts with U.S. during Cold War
TOKYO. March 9. KAZINFORM Japan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the existence of three Cold War-era secret agreements with Washington that included stipulations allowing the U.S. military to bring nuclear weapons onto its territory; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The public announcement ended a decades-long policy in Japan of keeping the agreements secret from the public. Information about the agreements, however, had already been revealed in the United States more than a decade ago.
One of the pacts, signed in 1960, effectively allowed the United States to bring nuclear weapons into Japan without prior consultation. This overturned previous agreements that had stated that Washington must first speak with Tokyo before bringing in any nuclear weapons, in light of Japanese sentiment after atomic bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of world War II in 1945.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the possibility that nuclear weapons had entered Japan during the era "cannot be ruled out", after the ministry expert panel made the confirmation in a report.
"We cannot clearly state that there was no nuclear introduction (to Japan)," Okada told a press conference after receiving the panel report.
He added, however, he believed nuclear arms had not been introduced since 1991, when U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced the withdrawal of tactical nuclear weapons from U.S. ships and submarines, and said he believed such introduction would not happen in the future; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version