Kyodo News: Japan Examined Possession of Nuclear Weapons In Early 80s

It has been revealed that an affiliated institute of Nippon Defense, a former Japanese National Defense Institute, reviewed the possibility of possessing nuclear weapons in 1981.

According to Kyodo News on October 2, the institute wrote a report that Japan could possess rudimentary nuclear weapons within three to five years concerning the state of Japanese nuclear technology at the time.

Kyodo News, however, added that it had judged that Japan required U.S. technological aid in order to equip plutonium separation equipment and atomic reactors for submarines and concluded that it was impossible for Japan to develop nuclear weapons completely without U.S. aid.

Japan’s investigation into possessing nuclear weapons may have arisen out of concern that Japan could be damaged in case of the outbreak of a nuclear war after the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

However, Kyodo News reported that the investigation into possessing nuclear weapons did not represent the official position of Nippon Defense, and it was not even reflected as policy.

Japan has officially prohibited the possession and production of nuclear weapons and imports. However, recently, some nationalistic ruling and opposition lawmakers have been insisting on the need for the self-development and possession of nuclear weapons.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com