Okada: Nuclear weapons ban unchanged

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada made clear Wednesday that the government will not alter its policy of barring nuclear weapons from Japanese waters and territory.

The policy comes a day after Okada released a report on a three-month investigation into secret pacts on nuclear weapons between Japan and the United States.

The investigation concluded that three secret pacts existed, including one that allowed U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons to make port calls in Japan or pass through Japanese territorial waters.

Okada said there was no possibility of the administration led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reviewing Japan's three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, manufacturing or allowing nuclear weapons to be brought in.

Okada announced the policy at Wednesday's session of the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Itsunori Onodera asked Okada if the government would ask Washington if U.S. warships making port calls in Japan are carrying nuclear weapons.

Okada replied that there is no need to confirm this "because we can determine from the appearance (of the ship whether it can carry nuclear weapons)."

Calling for a more vigorous approach, Onodera said, "Using this opportunity, there is a need to coordinate interpretations (about the bringing in of nuclear weapons) with the United States."

Onodera also pointed out that the decision by the United States in the 1990s to remove nuclear weapons from U.S. ships only involved tactical weapons and that there is still the possibility that submarines and aircraft carrying strategic nuclear weapons could make port calls or land in Japan as well as pass through and over Japanese territory.

Okada replied, "We would be able to identify by the model of ship or aircraft whether it is carrying strategic nuclear weapons."

In an earlier interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Okada said of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, "A major trend now is reducing the role of nuclear weapons, so I believe it will be extremely difficult to reverse (the removal of nuclear weapons from surface ships)."

Okada was also asked about the effect the investigation would have on relations with the United States.

"Most of the documents were those released by the United States," Okada said. "Because information disclosure is the foundation of democracy, they may think that democracy in Japan has matured."

Meanwhile, in Washington, Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said: "This investigation was a Japanese government matter. I don't think that it's going to significantly affect cooperation between the United States and Japan."

Foreign Ministry officials were busy Tuesday and Wednesday visiting local government officials to discuss the issue.

In Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Hiroyuki Namazu, director of the ministry's Status of U.S. Forces Agreement Division, explained the results of the investigation to Mayor Yuto Yoshida on Wednesday and apologized for problems that may arise for residents.

"There was no clear response about what would happen in the future so I am not satisfied," Yoshida said.