Subject: ＥＥＥ会議（Ｒｅ：　日本核武装に関する防衛庁研究）
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 08:49:38 +0900
From: "kkaneko" <kkaneko@eagle.ocn.ne.jp>

各位

日本核武装の可能性に関する防衛庁の内部研究については、朝日新聞のほかに、読売
新聞の英文版(The Yomiuri On Line)にも記事が出ていました。　とくに新味はあり
ませんが、ご参考まで。
金子熊夫
***********************************************
N-arms not in Japan's best interest



Yomiuri Shimbun

An internal Defense Agency report drawn up in 1995 which studied whether
Japan should possess nuclear weapons concluded that doing so was not in the
nation's best political or economic interests, it was learned Thursday.

The report on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction concluded
that relying on the U.S. arsenal as a nuclear deterrent was the best
solution for Japan.

The report detailed discussions held between senior agency officials and
then Administrative Vice Defense Minister Shigeru Hatakeyama in May 1995,
following the North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994.

It said, "The current discussion in favor of owning nuclear weapons lacks
sufficient study into the negative impact. Meanwhile, the idea that not
possessing nuclear weapons is detrimental is not sufficiently backed by
military theory."

The report also signified an attempt to provide a logical basis for the
nation's three nonnuclear principles--not to produce, possess or allow
nuclear weapons to be brought into the country, a senior Defense Agency
official said.

According to the report, the international community would be concerned that
Japan would play a key role in scuttling the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
if it were armed with nuclear weapons. It also feared that the possession of
nuclear arms could be taken by the United States as distrust of the
Japan-U.S. security alliance by Japan. The report also said it would be
taken by neighboring countries as a sign that Japan was pulling out of the
Japan-U.S. security alliance to seek an independent defense policy.

The report also warned that the possession of a nuclear arsenal would
disturb internal politics and raise political costs, in addition to the
financial cost of maintaining the weapons.

The issue of possible nuclear arms development by North Korea was referred
to as "a huge threat to the trustworthiness of the NPT and an issue that
cannot be overlooked by the United States."