Friday, August 22, 2003
Japan asks US to keep nuclear card in negotiation with N Korea
Agence France-Presse Tokyo, August 22
Japan has asked the United States to maintain its 'nuclear card' in negotiations with North Korea in a bid to prevent Pyongyang from using nuclear weapons against Japan, a newspaper report said on Friday.
A US promise not to use nuclear weapons against North Korea would plunge Japan's security into great danger if six-nation talks fail to stop Pyongyang's nuclear drive, the mass-circulation Yomiuri newspaper said. Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, conveyed the request to US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly in Washington last week, it said.
Yabunaka proposed promising non-aggression to North Korea but stayed clear from giving specific words regarding use of nuclear weapons against the reclusive nation, it said, citing anonymous Japanese government sources. Kelly said that the United States appreciated the Japanese proposal, according to the Yomiuri.
Japan, South Korea and the United States held two-day talks in Washington last week to discuss their positions ahead of the August 27-29 six-way talks in Beijing, which will also involve China, North Korea and Russia. Yabunaka and Kelly are also the head delegates of Japan and the United States to the Beijing talks.
"The (Japanese) government has judged it needs to maintain the current policy of staying under the US 'nuclear umbrella' in order to prevent North Korea from using nuclear weapons against Japan," the Yomiuri reported. As the only atomic-bombed nation, Japan's parliament in 1972 adopted a resolution on the three non-nuclear principles -- not producing, possessing or letting others bring in nuclear weapons.
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