JAPANESE GOVERNMENT LOOKING INTO ALLEGATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000395 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2014 TAGS: ETTC PARM PREL PK JA SUBJECT: JAPANESE GOVERNMENT LOOKING INTO ALLEGATIONS REGARDING POSSIBLE PAST JAPANESE INVOLVEMENT WITH A. Q. KHAN Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James Zumwalt for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Yoko Yanagisawa, MOFA Senior Coordinator for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, reports the GOJ is following up on local media reports that Japanese firms were involved in Abdul Qadeer Khan's efforts supporting development of Pakistan's nuclear program. Yanagisawa told econoff MOFA and METI officials raised the issue with a Pakistani delegation of export control officials during an Asian Export Control seminar in Tokyo February 18, 2009, and the Pakistanis responded they are looking into the reports. However, the Pakistani officials added Khan's status among Pakistanis means that any investigation would proceed deliberately. Yanagisawa said the GOJ, therefore, would likely cooperate with Pakistan to verify the media reports but would do so through quiet diplomatic channels. ¶2. (C) A Kyodo News item February 15 quoted unnamed former employees from three Japanese companies who reportedly corroborated Khan's claim that his research laboratory acquired equipment from Japan for Pakistan's uranium enrichment program in the 1980s. According to the article, Khan claimed a Tokyo-based trading company, Western Trading, worked with now-deceased Pakistani trader Mian Mohammad Farooq to export several pieces of machinery, laboratory equipment, and metal alloys. Western Trading filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Other named firms include Hitachi Seiki, which reportedly shipped automatic lathes through Western Trading and went bankrupt in 2002, and Japan Electron Optics Laboratory (JEOL),from which Khan claims to have procured a scanning electron microscope and an X-ray diffractometer. Bloomberg subsequently quoted a named JEOL spokesman who confirmed shipment of the electron microscope, but could not confirm sale of the x-ray diffractometer. ¶3. (C) Yanagisawa is surprised the story has not generated more of a reaction in Japan. She speculated a reason could be that the alleged transactions happened more than 20 years ago. She also noted Japan's export control regime has strengthened considerably since then, making transfers such as those Khan alleges to have arranged in Japan more difficult. (NOTE: Several other media outlets reported the Kyodo story the following day, but the issue was not raised at the daily MOFA, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or Cabinet press briefings. A Kyodo report in late December 2008 reporting Khan's claim to have traveled to Japan to procure nuclear equipment in the 1980's prompted Diet member Muneo Suzuki to question Prime Minister Aso during a parliamentary debate. Aso replied that the GOJ did not have information to verify the claim. END NOTE). ZUMWALT