Ministry takes new stance in denying nuke arms introduction

KOCHI, Japan, Sept. 26 Kyodo - The Foreign Ministry has said a U.S. military ship will not bring in nuclear arms when it makes a port call in Kochi Prefecture as ''it is not capable of carrying them,'' state and local governments officials said Saturday.

Responding to inquiries from local governments over the possibility of the U.S.
side bringing in nuclear weapons, the ministry used to say that it would be
unlikely as Washington held no prior consultations with Japan.
The latest response to the Kochi prefectural government apparently shows the
change of the ministry's stance in denying the nuclear arms introduction into
Japan.
The change is believed to have come as new Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada
ordered the ministry to look into purported secret bilateral pacts, including
one under which Japan may have allowed stopovers of nuclear-armed U.S. vessels.
The Kochi prefectural government asked the ministry Sept. 16 if a U.S. military
vessel will carry nuclear arms when it arrives at a local port next month, and
the ministry vocally responded Friday that Tokyo believes it does not possess
them ''as long as the vessel is not capable of carrying them,'' according to
the local government.
The ministry responded in 2006 and 2008, when the prefectural government issued
the same inquiries, that nuclear arms would not be brought in as long as prior
consultations were not held as Washington is obliged to implement the
consultations under the bilateral security treaty.
The ministry launched the investigation over the alleged secret pacts Friday,
and its outcome to be issued by the end of November could lead the government
to admit their existence in a landmark reversal of the stance of earlier
administrations.
==Kyodo