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Sub visit infuriates Japanese
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LOCAL outrage over the arrival of a US nuclear-powered submarine at a Japanese port allegedly without prior notification threatened yesterday to blow up into a full-scale diplomatic row.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono told reporters the government would withhold co-operation from the US Navy until it had received a proper explanation as to why a US submarine arrived unannounced at the port.
His comments followed anger expressed by local politicians who claimed the US Submarine Chicago arrived unannounced on Monday at Sasebo, a port about 800km southwest of Tokyo.
The submarine had allegedly turned up without giving 24 hours' prior notification, as has been the case in every other such visit since 1964, Kyodo News agency said.
Tensions over the massive US military presence in Japan have been running high ever since the February 9 ramming of the Ehime Maru fishery training vessel off Hawaii by another nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Greeneville, which left nine Japanese dead.
Nuclear issues are also extremely sensitive in the Nagasaki area, where Sasebo is located, because of the atomic bombing of the city by the Americans at the end of World War II.
US Navy spokesman Commander James Graybeal told reporters the submarine had visited the harbour for approximately 20 minutes, but he disputed the Japanese side's assertion that no notice had been given, saying instead there had been an administrative mix-up.(SD-Agencies)
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