DA director general wants to allow free-passage of U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in Japanese waters

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DA director general wants to allow free-passage of U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in Japanese waters

Defense Agency Director General Kyuma Fumio said at a press conference on November 17 that U.S. nuclear-armed submarines are allowed to pass through Japanese territorial waters.

Kyuma's remarks are intended to undermine the Three Non-Nuclear Principles (not to manufacture, possess, or allow nuclear weapons to be brought in).

Referring to the fact that Japan extended its territorial waters from three to 12 nautical miles in 1977, Kyuma said, "Before then, U.S. submarines could openly pass through the zone within 12 nautical miles. Why aren't they allowed to do today what they had been allowed to do before?"

On a TV program aired on November 16, Kyuma stated that passage of U.S. submarines carrying nuclear weapons in Japanese coastal waters does not go against the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

Based on the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, the Japanese government has maintained, at least ostensibly, a position that it does not allow foreign ships carrying nuclear weapons to visit Japanese ports or pass through its territorial waters.

However, the Japanese Communist Party has revealed that when the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was revised in 1960, the Japanese and U.S. governments made a secret agreement to allow U.S. military ships and planes carrying nuclear weapons to visit Japan without prior consultation, thus allowing the U.S. to freely bring in nuclear weapons.
- Akahata, November 18, 2006