ID :
83447
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 15:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/83447
The shortlink copeid
Japan recorded when U.S. envoy confirmed secret nuke pact in 1968
TOKYO, Oct. 6 Kyodo -
The Japanese Foreign Ministry was keeping a record when the U.S. ambassador in
1968 reminded it of a secret 1960 bilateral nuclear deal, a former senior
ministry official attested Tuesday in further evidence contrary to Tokyo's
stance that no such pact has existed.
Following the change in Japanese administration last month, the ministry has
begun looking into existence of the deal the government has so far repeatedly
denied but declassified U.S. documents and former vice ministers have
confirmed.
According to the senior official who once headed the ministry's former Treaties
Bureau and spoke on condition of anonymity, the record had been covertly
maintained by the Treaties and the North American Affairs bureaus at least
until the end of the 1990s.
Under the secret deal agreed in 1960, Tokyo would allow nuclear-armed U.S.
vessels to call at Japanese ports or pass through its territorial waters
without prior consultations as required under the bilateral security treaty.
But it has maintained that no nuclear arms have been brought into Japan in
violation of its nonnuclear principles as no such consultations have taken
place.
A declassified U.S. document dated Jan. 26, 1968, has shown, however, that U.S.
Ambassador to Japan Alexis Johnson, who was concerned about ''basic
misunderstanding between the two governments'' over the deal, reminded senior
Japanese officials of it.
The Japanese ministry's record concerned is also about a conversation the same
day between Johnson and Vice Foreign Minister Nobuhiko Ushiba during their
visit to then U.S.-occupied Iwoto Island, which was produced by Fumihiko Togo,
head of the North American Affairs Bureau who was with them, the official said.
Whether the record will be found in the ministry's investigation into a total
of 3,700 files over the nuclear deal is now a focus of attention amid
speculation that related documents kept in the ministry were discarded before
an information disclosure law came into effect in Japan in April 2001.
According to the U.S. document reported in 2007, Johnson told the Japanese
officials of his concern after meeting with then Foreign Minister Takeo Miki
earlier in January 1968, citing earlier U.S. efforts to confirm the accord, but
neither Ushiba nor Togo challenged Johnson over the matter.
==Kyodo
The Japanese Foreign Ministry was keeping a record when the U.S. ambassador in
1968 reminded it of a secret 1960 bilateral nuclear deal, a former senior
ministry official attested Tuesday in further evidence contrary to Tokyo's
stance that no such pact has existed.
Following the change in Japanese administration last month, the ministry has
begun looking into existence of the deal the government has so far repeatedly
denied but declassified U.S. documents and former vice ministers have
confirmed.
According to the senior official who once headed the ministry's former Treaties
Bureau and spoke on condition of anonymity, the record had been covertly
maintained by the Treaties and the North American Affairs bureaus at least
until the end of the 1990s.
Under the secret deal agreed in 1960, Tokyo would allow nuclear-armed U.S.
vessels to call at Japanese ports or pass through its territorial waters
without prior consultations as required under the bilateral security treaty.
But it has maintained that no nuclear arms have been brought into Japan in
violation of its nonnuclear principles as no such consultations have taken
place.
A declassified U.S. document dated Jan. 26, 1968, has shown, however, that U.S.
Ambassador to Japan Alexis Johnson, who was concerned about ''basic
misunderstanding between the two governments'' over the deal, reminded senior
Japanese officials of it.
The Japanese ministry's record concerned is also about a conversation the same
day between Johnson and Vice Foreign Minister Nobuhiko Ushiba during their
visit to then U.S.-occupied Iwoto Island, which was produced by Fumihiko Togo,
head of the North American Affairs Bureau who was with them, the official said.
Whether the record will be found in the ministry's investigation into a total
of 3,700 files over the nuclear deal is now a focus of attention amid
speculation that related documents kept in the ministry were discarded before
an information disclosure law came into effect in Japan in April 2001.
According to the U.S. document reported in 2007, Johnson told the Japanese
officials of his concern after meeting with then Foreign Minister Takeo Miki
earlier in January 1968, citing earlier U.S. efforts to confirm the accord, but
neither Ushiba nor Togo challenged Johnson over the matter.
==Kyodo
