The Japanese government submitted a letter of acceptance of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan at U.N. headquarters in New York at midnight Friday Japan time, government officials said.

The submission of the letter will put the treaty into effect in Japan on Dec. 16, 30 days after the submission of the letter.

The treaty was adopted at the U.N. general meeting in 1997 and Japan signed it in 1998.