A Foreign Ministry panel of experts on Tuesday concluded that secret agreements existed between the United States and Japan concerning the "bringing in" of U.S. nuclear weapons to Japan, military operations of U.S. armed forces from Japanese bases in an "emergency" on the Korean Peninsula, and cost burdens shouldered by Japan in the 1972 reversion of Okinawa from the U.S. to Japan.

Time and again, the former Liberal Democratic Party administrations had denied the existence of such agreements. It has become clear that they did not tell the truth to the people. In departing from their practice, the current Democratic Party of Japan administration should now take the opportunity to maximize transparency in diplomacy. In some situations, the government may have to conduct diplomacy secretly. In such a case, the government must keep accurate records so that later generations can clearly understand what happened and why.

As to the secret agreement on "bringing in" nuclear weapons, the panel said the Japanese government told the Diet — in connection with the signing of the 1960 Japan-U.S. Security Treaty — that stopovers in Japan as well as transit through Japanese territorial waters of U.S. military ships carrying nuclear weapons would be subject to prior consultation as required by the treaty. Japan found that the U.S. saw things differently, the panel said.