Japanese Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama yesterday said he would launch an investigation into claims that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party permitted nuclear-armed U.S. warships to secretly stop at Japanese ports, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, Aug. 28).
Japan's "non-nuclear principles" prohibit possession and production of nuclear weapons, along with deployment of such armaments on its soil by other nations.
The Foreign Ministry would lead the investigation after Hatoyama's administration is established in office next week, The new government intends to request U.S. assistance in shedding light on the matter, sources in Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan said. The incoming prime minister could discuss the probe with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting later this month, the sources said.
"We want to reveal the facts to the public" once they are verified in the probe, Hatoyama said (Kyodo News/Breitbart.com, Sept. 10).