When former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone visited Iraq during the Persian Gulf crisis in 1990, he spoke frankly with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, urging him to pull out of Kuwait within a month or risk U.S. military involvement.

According to the diplomatic documents released Dec. 22, he also told Hussein that China would have more sympathy for Iraq than the Soviet Union.

“The United States is asking the Soviet Union and China to go along with it,” Nakasone said, regarding the forming of an international coalition to liberate Kuwait. “The Soviet Union will maintain its silence and leave everything to the U.S. You can rely instead on China.”

According to the series of released diplomatic documents, the Foreign Ministry communicated with Nakasone behind the scenes before his visit, which came amid the Gulf crisis to resolve Japanese “hostage” issues.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and took about 5,000 foreign hostages. Some of them were taken to military facilities and forced to become “human shields.”

The Japanese hostage issues became more serious as the international community accelerated efforts to pressure Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.

At that time, more than 300 Japanese nationals were stranded and trapped in the midst of the crisis.

The documents said that Nakasone’s visit to Iraq “would not be government related.”

Documents kept in the ministry said of Nakasone’s visit to Iraq, “It has to be sensitively handled in terms of full consideration for the United States.” The documents also warned, “Iraq might use it for propaganda purposes.”

Takakazu Kuriyama, an administrative vice minister, met Nakasone and told him about his concerns.

Kuriyama reiterated that Nakasone’s visit must be a private one as a “freelancer.”

Nakasone responded, “I do not need a letter from Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.” However, he added, “It would be OK if I coordinated my visit with the Liberal Democratic Party behind the scenes.”

As for his strategy in his talks with Hussein, Nakasone used a baseball pitching analogy in trying to make progress by aiming for the corners of the strike zone, rather than pitching down the middle.

“I will aim for the strike zone of government policy, but I might try to paint the corners," the former prime minister said. “Otherwise, I cannot have fruitful talks.”

Nakasone left Haneda Airport on Nov. 3, 1990, for Baghdad after being invited by Hussein as part of a delegation, including LDP lawmakers.

The official telegram detailed what transpired in the talks between Nakasone and Hussein.

Koko Sato, an LDP deputy secretary-general who attended the meeting, said, “Japan knows how meaningless a war is as the only country in the world that has suffered an atomic bombing.”

“Whose atomic bomb was it?” Hussein asked.

“While 18 million Iraqi people are suffering from the embargo on food and medical goods (imposed by the U.N. Security Council), where is the U.S. humanitarian perspective?” Hussein said of the United States.

Nakasone told him, “It is good that U.S. people speak frankly, but it is kind of a problem that they sometimes act like teenagers.” Hussein smiled.

“The people working inside the government are more likely to become inflexible, but we can talk about peace and war prevention together freely,” Nakasone said.

Hussein accepted holding one-to-one discussions with only their interpreters present.

The “top secret” colloquy contained the deeper communications between them. 

Nakasone said to him that he “brought a large number of medical supplies by air” for Iraq.

He also warned Hussein, “The possibility of the outbreak of war will escalate from the end of November over December.”

“I know how terrible war is through the Pacific War,” Nakasone said as he cited his own war experiences.

He added that, “U.S. President George Bush has a cautious nature, so the United States alone won’t decide on the use of force.” 

He urged Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait, saying, “This one month is a critical point so as not to give an excuse for U.S. military intervention.” 

Hussein was concerned about Iraq’s situation in that it needed to make concessions to Iran and was suffering from the harsh economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council.

He said that on top of such a serious situation, “if Iraq withdraws from Kuwait, our people will make a great protest and confusion will result. No Iraqi politician can talk about withdrawing (from Kuwait).” 

The visiting delegation to Iraq returned to Japan with 74 Japanese, including some hostages. 

(This article was written by Naoki Kikuchi, Hiroki Koizumi and senior staff writers Takateru Doi and Naotaka Fujita.)

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This article is a part of a series of stories based on the diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry in December 2021.