沖縄への核再持ち込み否定　元米高官、「密約」で見解―外交文書

　日米が沖縄返還で合意した１９６９年１１月の佐藤栄作首相とニクソン米大統領の会談の際、両首脳が結んだとされる返還後の沖縄に核兵器を再び持ち込むことを認める「密約」に関し、事前交渉に携わった元米政府高官が「再び核を持ち込むような事態はまずあり得ない」との見解を日本側に示していたことが、２５日公開の外交文書で明らかになった。（肩書は当時）
　ニクソン政権のキッシンジャー大統領補佐官の下で返還交渉の実務に当たったモートン・ハルペリン氏が、首脳会談の翌月の１２月９日に吉野文六駐米公使に語った内容とみられる。
　文書によると、ハルペリン氏とみられる人物は「本当に核を使う必要のある緊急事態ならば、まず沖縄に持ち込み、次にここから発射するような面倒なことはせず、直接Ｂ５２（戦略爆撃機）でグアム等から沖縄に着陸せずに（爆撃地に）輸送するか、またはポラリス（潜水艦発射弾道ミサイル）を使うことになる」と指摘した。（2019/12/25-10:15）

A then high-level U.S. official said in December 1969 that nuclear weapons would not be brought into Okinawa following the island's return to Japan from U.S. control, it was learned Wednesday.
   The comments, thought to be made by Morton Halperin, who was in charge of Okinawa handover negotiations under National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon, were revealed in diplomatic records made public on Wednesday. Halperin is believed to have made the assurances to Bunroku Yoshino, Japanese ambassador to the United States at the time, on Dec. 9 that year.
   The assertion came after an agreement on Okinawan reversion between Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in talks held the previous month, in which the two leaders are said to have secretly agreed to allow nuclear weapons back into Okinawa under special circumstances.
   According to the records, the person thought to be Halperin said that the United States would not go through the trouble of bringing nuclear weapons into Okinawa and then launching the weapons in the event of an emergency necessitating a nuclear attack.
   Instead, he said, B-52 strategic bombers loaded with nuclear weapons would fly directly to target sites from Guam and other U.S. territories, or UGM-27 Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads would be used.