Japan has confirmed the existence of a secret agreement on nuclear arms with the United States that was reached between the two countries during the Cold War.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada announced the results of a government investigation that looked into the alleged secret pacts on Tuesday saying there had been an unspoken agreement allowing nuclear-armed US ships to make port calls in Japan.
[Interview : Katsuya Okada, Japanese Foreign Minister] "We have established that there was indeed a clause that was never announced that dealt with the United States bringing nuclear weapons into Japan."
The latest discovery shows that despite repeated denial of its existence by former administrations the Japan-US security treaty revisal in 1960 included an agreement allowing US nuclear warships to make stopovers and pass through Japanese territory without prior consultation.
What's even more alarming is that the contentious pact also violates Japan's three non-nuclear principles which state that the East Asian country shall neither possess, manufacture nor permit the entry of nuclear weapons.
And while the secret pact had been exposed through declassified US documents in the past the current administration's acknowledgement of its existence shows that previous governments under the Liberal Democratic Party lied about it for decades.
According to Japanese reports there was also a misunderstanding between the two countries on the issue of prior consultation.
The US thought that temporary port calls and passages were not subject to consultation while Japan believed they were included.
Therefore as long as the US kept quiet about its actions previous administrations continued to say that no nuclear materials were being brought into the country and even after becoming aware of the gap in interpretation Japan kept mum on the matter.
Meanwhile Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters on Tuesday that Tokyo will continue to uphold the country's three non-nuclear policies despite the finding of a secret US-Japan pact on nuclear arms.
Hatoyama also assured that the revelation will not affect future relations between the two countries.
Jang Ji-yun, Arirang News.
MAR 11, 2010
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Friday, SEP 03, 2010, (KST) 
