On Tuesday, Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada confirmed the existence of a secret nuclear pact with the United States. The deal may have allowed U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons to enter Japanese ports without prior discussion.

[Katsuya Okada, Japanese Foreign Minister]:
"We have established that there was indeed a clause that was never announced that dealt with the United States and its bringing in of nuclear weapons into Japan."

[Katsuya Okada, Foreign Minister]:
"We don't want to imagine this sort of scenario, but we cannot definitively say that there has never been a nuclear weapon carried into Japan."

The pact allows the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons on the southern island of Okinawa where the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan are located.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says the deal should not affect Japan’s relations with the U.S.

[Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese Prime Minister]:
"I don't believe that this should affect U.S.-Japan relations from here on, and we should deal with the issue in a way that does not affect bilateral ties."

The United States had urged Japan not to let the investigation into past secret pacts over nuclear weapons damage their relationship amid a feud over the relocation of a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa.

Hatoyama has pledged to reach an agreement on a new relocation plan for the U.S. airbase by the end of May.