Sunday, April 11, 2010

Paper Shows Japan Dropped Jurisdiction over U.S. Troops

    April 11, 2010

    Tokyo, April 10 (Jiji Press) -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry has found a document indicating a 1950s Japan-U.S. secret agreement under which Tokyo effectively abandoned jurisdiction over American servicemen stationed in Japan except for serious cases, it was learned Saturday.

    An official document pointing to such a bilateral agreement before the 1960 revision of the Japan-U.S. security treaty has already been disclosed in the United States.

    The Japanese document, kept at the ministry, is minutes of an October 1958 meeting of then Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II, a ministry official said. At that time, the two countries were negotiating a revision to the bilateral security treaty.

    Under the former Japan-U.S. administrative agreement based on the previous security treaty, Japan had jurisdiction over U.S. servicemen in crimes committed when they were not in public duties. The administrative accord is the predecessor of the current Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

    According to the minutes, MacArthur referred to a remark by a Japanese official at a Japan-U.S. joint committee meeting in 1953 that Japan would not exercise primary jurisdiction over U.S. servicemen except for cases that were materially important to Japan.

    (2010/04/11-02:40)