Court Cancels Okinawa Decision to Disclose US Base-Linked Pact

March 7, 2017

Naha, Okinawa Pref.- Naha District Court on Tuesday canceled Okinawa Prefecture's decision to disclose an agreement on the sharing of a prefectural road that runs through the US military's Jungle Warfare Training Center in northern Okinawa.

The prefecture's decision on the agreement, signed by the prefecture and the Japanese central and U.S. governments, was illegal, Hajime Morikagi, the court's presiding judge, said, upholding a claim by the central government.

"The Japanese and U.S. governments have agreed not to disclose the document," Morikagi said. "Making the document public is feared to unjustifiably undermine Japan's status as a party involved."

In response to a request from local residents, the prefecture in February 2015 decided to disclose the agreement on the joint usage of the No. 70 prefectural highway under an information disclosure ordinance.

The court had approved a request from the central government to suspend the implementation of the prefecture's decision.

In the lawsuit, the national government insisted that the written agreement makes up part of the record of a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee, where the sharing of the road was decided.

As the U.S. military says disclosing the agreement would pose a problem, the relationship of trust between Japan and the United States would be damaged if the accord is disclosed, the central government said.

On the other hand, Okinawa Prefecture claimed that the spirit of the information disclosure law would be significantly hurt if refusal by the United Statesprevents any document from being disclosed.

"I can understand if they say documents on U.S. military facilities or operations can't be disclosed," said Tsuyoshi Kitaueda, a member of a citizens group that requested the disclosure of the agreement.

"But I don't understand at all why they can't disclose papers on the conditions of use for the prefectural road," Kitaueda said. Jiji Press