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Japan to tighten nuclear controls

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, FEB. 17. Japan today announced that it "is now applying a catch-all policy'' to prevent the possible leakage or transfer of know-how and equipment for the illicit production and deployment of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. The move follows the exposure of the clandestine nuclear-weapons related mafia that the Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan, and his associates had run.

With Japan too coming under the international spotlight in the context of non-proliferation, the Foreign Ministry said in Tokyo today that the country was now actively engaged in this sphere. Indicating that the announcement pertained to a tightening of a policy that had been in vogue in Japan for some time, the spokesman said: "We have been cooperating with other countries in full in stopping this kind of transaction(s) in nuclear-weapons-related technologies. We will continue to do so, and once we receive information (about clandestine activities), the Japanese police and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will take the necessary measures.'' The policy is to check all possible aspects of clandestine proliferation.

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