Ex-Japan Bureaucrat Admits Secret Nuclear Accord with U.S.

Tokyo, June 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan and the United States concluded
a secret agreement allowing U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons to make
port in Japan or pass its territorial waters when the two countries revised
their security treaty about a half century ago, a former Japanese diplomat
told Jiji Press on Monday.
Ryohei Murata, who served as vice foreign minister between July
1987 and August 1989, said he received a document on the secret accord from
his predecessor, Kensuke Yanagiya, when he took over the top bureaucrat's
post at the Foreign Ministry.
Murata, now 79, said that Yanagiya told him to brief the foreign
minister at that time on details of the agreement. Murata thus explained the
content of the agreement to Tadashi Kuranari and Sousuke Uno, he said.
Kuranari served as foreign minister between July 1986 and November 1987, and
Uno succeeded him and served in the post until June 1989.
When Murata left the post of vice minister, the matter was carried
over to his successor, Takakazu Kuriyama, Murata said.
It is the first time that a person who served as Japan's vice
foreign minister has admitted the existence of the secret agreement.
The Japanese government has consistently denied that Japan and the
United States have concluded such a confidential agreement.
In revising the bilateral security treaty in 1960, Tokyo and
Washington agreed that the two countries should hold prior negotiations when
major changes were to be made in U.S. military equipment, including nuclear
weapons.
But Murata's comments suggest that port calls in Japan and passage
through its territorial waters by U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons
were not subject to such prior negotiations.
Documents on the Japan-U.S. secret accord have been discovered at
the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
At a press conference Monday, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji
Yabunaka denied the existence of the agreement, saying that he was not told
by his predecessor about such a matter.
Under the Japanese government's definition, the country's
territorial waters around five straits, including Soya Strait and Tsugaru
Strait, expand to 3 nautical miles from the coastlines, instead of 12 miles
stipulated under the law on territorial waters.
Murata said that this is apparently because the government is
trying to ensure that possible passages through the straits by U.S. warships
carrying nuclear weapons should not cause political problems.