Tokyo confirms Cold War-era pacts on nuclear warships with U.S.

The revelations came as a greater step for government transparency, which was promoted by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. Meanwhile, it also effectively acknowledged that previous conservative Liberal Democratic Party government had lied for decades.

The findings didn't make a splash because previous declassified U.S. documents had already confirmed such agreements, and also a few former Japanese bureaucrats had spoken out about them in recent years.

However, as the only county that suffered from atomic bombs at the end of World War II in the world, the admission about the secret pacts is a shocking reversal after years of denials from government authorities.

Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor from the Hiroshima bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, was outraged by the findings. He called the government's past behavior deceitful.

Most controversial was the findings that past governments had given unspoken permission to U.S. nuclear-armed warships in Japanese ports - a violation of Japan's so-called three non-nuclear principles of not making, owning or allowing the entry of atomic weapons.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told a news conference the findings shouldn't have any impact on Japanese-U.S. ties, which are currently strained over a dispute about the relocation of a Marine base on the southern island of Okinawa.

The investigation, Okada said, was meant to restore public trust in Japan's diplomacy and government policies, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.