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ATCMIC ENERGY COMMLSSIQN Note by the Secretary The Director of InternationalAffairs has submittedthe attachedMemorandumof’ Conversation for the info~ation of the Commissioners 2 - 2, 17 When separatedfrom enclosures General Manager handle this document as....... General Counsel 8~9 UNCLASSIFIED
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Foreign Minister Okazakl of Japan AmbassadorSadao Iguohlj Embassy of Japan Embassy Tokyo (2 co) %1( if) Mr. Okazaki said that he had originallythought $1 million would be enough to satisfy the various Japanese claims in connection with the damages sufferedby Japan as a result of the explosion of the hydrogen bomb at Bikini, Then Kuboyama died and the Japanese are finding that even at this late date many tunafish have to be thrown out because of radioactivity. These facta have changed the situation. He him6elf’had talked on the telephoneto Tokyo the day before and he Is now convincedthat one million dollars will not achieve the purpose of a settlementwhioh will be generally thought to be satisfactory, liepointed outithat the Japanese Governmenthas already put out 430 million yen in loans to people in the fishing industrywho have sufferedlosses, Some of the people In Japan have proposed a partial settlementnews and then continuingdiscussionof the total amount, He himself would rather have it all handled at one time, His own personal belief, whloh had been confirmedwith Tokyo, was that it might possibly be done for $1-1/2 million but that a figure of $2 million would certainlyconstitutea satisfactoryfinal settlement. Mr. Robertson said that we understandhow difficultthis problem 1s for the Japanese Governmentand people, We are deeply distressedand conoernedthat the tests 5hould have produced such unfortunateand unexpectedresults, ~He wanted to emphasize that the expendituresof billions of dollars which we are making in our atomic program are not only for ourselvesbut to serve the dual purpose of protectingthe human race from Communistenslavement, and also leading toward the p~aceful usee of atomic energy
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with all their great potentialities, Mr. Okazaki commentedthat he had told the Diet the .aamething and had been bitterly attacked for It. Nevertheless,he believes that it is true, Returningto the question of the settlement,Mr. Okazaki said that he had tried to aohieve a settlementof one million dollars but this effort had failed. To attempt to do so now would really end the Yo8hlda governmenteven though the situationhad ohanged somewhatafter the Toya Maru acoldent,whioh the Japanese Governmentgreatly regretted, With re8peot to the Bikini Incident, Mr, Yoshida had clearly indicatedthat the Japanese Government does not want to make use of the case to squeezemoney out and in. fact he may still be against asking for more than one million dollars. However, Mr. Okazaki believes that this amount would not be enough to oreate a good public feeling about the settlementin Japan and that such a settlementwould be damaging to good United Mr. Robertson shid that we want to do what is fair and equitablebut we do not want to eet precedentswhich would be unfortunate, He agreed completelywith Mr, Okazaki that it would be preferable to have a final settlement. If thie proves impof3sible, perhaps a legal inquirymight be institutedbut we hope this can be avoided, If we can agree on a definite figure which the Japanese Governmentoan be sure of we would earnestlyconsiderIt. We think that $2 million would be perhaps too high, but that something between $1 and $2 million might be satisfactory, Anything over a million dollars may possibly require Congressional action and the resultingdiscussionsmay po.sibly lead to bad reactions in United States publio opinion. However, the Important thing now is to see if we can reach agreementon some definite Mr. Olcazakisaid that he appreciatedhaving Mr, Robertsonls views and that he hoped that we could reach a settlementbefore the testing progran ie resumed, He asked whether we had any idea when the tests might be resumed, saying that he needed advance notice in order to prepare people in Japan. Mr. Robertson said he did not have this Informationbut that Mr, Okazaki could be assured of our full cooperationin this respect,