A group that monitors Japan's defense policy warned Monday that a new security policy recommended last month by an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi could violate agreements under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as it would allow nuclear retaliation against use of other weapons of mass destruction.
In a statement addressed to Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono, the group said the advisory panel's recommendation "has expanded the roles of the nuclear umbrella offered by the United States to cover weapons of mass destruction in general beyond nuclear weapons."
"This idea clearly runs against existing international agreements" that aim to promote nuclear disarmament by limiting the roles of atomic weapons as much as possible, the group said in a statement.