Nippon Steel sells Kure works site to defense ministry

Japan's Ministry of Defense has bought the 140-hectare site of Nippon Steel's Setouchi Works in Kure in western Japan's Hiroshima prefecture where the government plans to manufacture and maintain defense equipment such as drones and powder magazines.

"This is an important milestone," Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stated last Friday, announcing the purchase. "We will steadily advance the development of the base (and) plan to promptly begin the recruitment procedures for companies wishing to participate in the private sector attraction area." Neither Nippon Steel nor the defense