No secret nuke accord exists between Japan, U.S.: Japanese officials

TOKYO, June 1 Kyodo -
Top Japanese government officials reiterated Monday that no secret accord has
existed between Japan and the United States regarding the entry into Japan of
U.S. nuclear weapons, denying a report by Kyodo News the previous day that
cited comments of four former top foreign ministry officials that backed up its
existence.
''The government has said many times that no secret agreement has existed,''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said at a press conference. ''Prime
ministers and foreign ministers have clearly denied the existence of such an
agreement.''
Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka also echoed such views in a separate
press conference and said the government has no plans to check on the reported
testimonies by the four former top foreign ministry officials, who assumed the
same post as Yabunaka's during the 1980s and 1990s.
Meanwhile, small opposition parties expressed a desire to pursue the issue in
parliament, with Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima saying that
prime ministers and senior foreign ministry officials have ''deceived the
public through false replies'' when they were questioned about the issue in the
Diet.
The former vice foreign ministers told Kyodo News recently that a secret
Japan-U.S. accord on the handling of nuclear weapons has been under the control
of top ministry officials and only a handful of prime ministers and foreign
ministers had been informed of the fact.
In revising the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960, the two allies reached a
secret agreement under which Tokyo would give tacit approval for stopovers of
U.S. military aircraft or vessels carrying nuclear weapons, according to the
four officials.
''The U.S. government has not asked to hold any prior consultations (with
Japan), so the Japanese government has no doubts regarding the entry of nuclear
weapons,'' Kawamura said.
Kawamura was referring to the bilateral security treaty stipulating that the
United States needs to hold prior consultations with Japan to bring nuclear
weapons into Japanese territory.
==Kyodo