April 9, 2010
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A Japanese court has ordered the government to find and disclose diplomatic documents related to a secret Japan-US agreement on the 1972 reversion of Okinawa.
25 journalists, academics and others had filed suit, alleging that the government covered up diplomatic papers related to a secret cost burden taken on by Japan when Okinawa reverted from US rule.
The foreign and finance ministries argued that their own inquiries turned up no such documents, but neither denied nor confirmed that a secret pact existed.On Friday, the Tokyo District Court ruled that such an agreement did exist. The court said the Foreign Ministry's in-house inquiry was halfhearted, thus limiting its credibility.
The court said that only when the ministry interviews former top bureaucrats can the inquiry be regarded as sufficient.
The court ordered the ministry to pay 100,000 yen, or nearly 1,100 dollars, per plaintiff, citing its lack of sincerity and violation of the public's right to know.
The Foreign Ministry began looking into a series of purported secret pacts between Japan and the United States last September, when a change of power ushered in a government led by the Democratic Party.
In March, a panel of experts appointed by the ministry concluded that the cost-bearing deal over Okinawa's reversion amounted to a secret agreement in a broad sense.
2010/04/09 16:25(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
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