Japan, U.S. agree on periodic talks over U.S. nuclear umbrella+

TOKYO, July 18 Kyodo -
Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to set up an official framework to
engage in periodic talks on the so-called U.S. nuclear umbrella over Japan and
other deterrence measures, a senior Japanese official said.
The move reflects the U.S. intention to remove Japan's growing security
concerns in the wake of North Korea's nuclear test in May by deepening
discussions between the two countries on the effectiveness and reliability of
the nuclear umbrella, under which Japan, which does not possess nuclear
weapons, is afforded protection.
Through such a move, the United States may also be hoping to defuse arguments
among some ruling party members in Japan that the country should arm itself
with nuclear weapons.
The agreement was reached at a Security Subcommittee Meeting attended by senior
working-level officials from the Japanese foreign and defense ministries and
their U.S. counterparts, including visiting Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary
of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.
''We are going to start some briefings soon, very soon, (in the) next several
weeks (on the issue). But we will continue that in a more formal way later,
subsequently,'' Campbell, who is visiting Japan for the first time since
assuming the post in June, told reporters after the meeting.
Meanwhile, on the possibility of holding the so-called five-party talks without
North Korea to break the impasse in negotiations on denuclearizing the North,
Campbell said that the prospects are ''not clear.''
''The United States has said that we like to see at some point five-party talks
in the appropriate circumstances, the appropriate preparation. We are not sure
when or if those will occur,'' he said.
The six-party talks, involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, the United
States and Russia, have been stalled since December over ways to verify
Pyongyang's nuclear activities.
North Korea said it will quit the talks in protest over a U.N. Security Council
statement condemning its rocket launch in April, which was widely seen as a
disguised missile test. It also conducted its second nuclear test in May.
Campbell is seen as a key envoy for Asian diplomacy under the administration of
U.S. President Barack Obama.
During the meeting, Japanese and U.S. officials also agreed on the need to
steadily implement a road map to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan,
the Japanese Defense Ministry said.
Japan, as the world's only country to have undergone atomic attack, maintains a
policy of not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of
nuclear weapons into Japan.
But Japan at the same relies on U.S. nuclear arms for protection, a policy some
argue as contradictory.
==Kyodo
2009-07-18 22:31:50