A retired senior diplomat admitted for the first time in court Dec. 1 that Tokyo and Washington concluded a secret accord on the cost burden for the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control.

Bunroku Yoshino KYODO PHOTO

Bunroku Yoshino, 91, former chief of the Foreign Ministry American Bureau, offered the testimony in the Tokyo District Court on behalf of plaintiffs demanding that the government disclose three documents they argue will prove the accord existed.

"The words in the official Okinawa reversion accord and the facts are different," Yoshino said.

One of the plaintiffs is a former Mainichi Shimbun reporter convicted over his reports on the diplomatic negotiations.

The three documents, which were declassified by the United States early this decade, include one indicating Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs that Washington was supposed to pay to restore farmland in Okinawa that had been used by U.S. forces.

Describing the background for Japan having had to shoulder the costs, Yoshino testified, "We heard of voices in the U.S. Congress arguing that Okinawa should not be returned if money is offered to Japan, which is making money through trade with the United States."

"I had no other choice but to say there was no such agreement in those days," Yoshino said. "But I've gradually come to think I can't keep a secret over the pact since the disclosure in the United States."

Deterioration in the U.S. economy amid the prolonged Vietnam War and worsening feelings toward Japan in Congress were behind Japan's cost burdens, he said.