Whatever they are from, no nuclear weapons should be in Japan

Comments on Tobias Harris “Who’s afraid of the conservatives in Japan?” 15/07/2009, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/07/15/whos-afraid-of-the-conservatives-in-japan/

While North Korea's nuclear program poses a threat to every country in the East Asia region, why does it improve Japan's security by having US nuclear weapons in Japan, given that Japan has been under the US nuclear umbrella?

It should be noted that the 1960 secret agreement was made during the cold war era, obviously. It reminds people of the Cuba missiles crisis in 1962, not too long after 1960. If it were not a secret agreement, the Cuba missiles crisis may have had been different.

How did the US take the missiles in Cuba then? Why didn't it allow them to stay there? What are the implications of having US nuclear weapons in Japan for other countries in the region? How China and Russia will react, given that the way the US reacted to the Cuba missiles? Will it be a stabilising or destabilising to the regional security?

While it is important to prevent nuclear proliferation, to have US nuclear weapons in Japan would hardly contribute to that cause.

It would be a much more serious regional security issue than just that of a reaction to the North Korea’s nuclear program and would have much wider implications. If that happens, it would have the potential to shift the focus away from North Korea to a whole new issue.