Bureaucrats kept only ‘trusted’ prime ministers in loop
Kyodo News
A secret accord between Tokyo and Washington on moving U.S. nuclear weapons through Japanese territory has been controlled by top Foreign Ministry bureaucrats who have told only a handful of “trusted” prime ministers and foreign ministers of its existence, four former top ministry officials have revealed.
All four were vice foreign ministers, the top bureaucratic post in the ministry. The limited number of prime ministers told of the secret accord included Ryutaro Hashimoto and Keizo Obuchi, the former officials said.
The pact gives Japan’s tacit approval that U.S. aircraft or naval vessels carrying nuclear weapons can transit Japan.
The revelation indicates that Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have controlled the top-secret matter, not elected officials.
The two allies concluded the secret agreement when the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was revised in 1960. Although the secret accord became publicly known through the declassification of U.S. diplomatic documents in the late 1990s, the Japanese government has consistently denied its existence.
The government has publicly adhered to the “three nonnuclear principles” of not possessing or developing nuclear weapons, or allowing them on Japanese territory.
It is the first time former top Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have admitted that some prime ministers and foreign ministers knew about the secret deal.
The revelation may shatter the government’s long-standing denial and require it to be held accountable to the public.
Japan Times