Foreign ministry notes shared goal with ICAN

October 9, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Norio Maruyama on Sunday issued a statement noting the country's shared objective with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

"Although ICAN's activities to date are different from the Japanese government's approach, we share the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons," Maruyama said.

"It would be welcomed to see increased global awareness of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation with this award," he said.

Pointing out the North Korea's nuclear and missile development poses "unprecedented, grave and imminent threat," the statement said, "We must work with the international community to maximize pressure using all means to change the policy of North Korea."

It said, "Japan believes that realistic and practical efforts on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation is essential in truly pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons, through cooperation with both the nonnuclear and the nuclear weapon states, based on the clear understanding of such a severe security environment as well as the correct understanding of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons."

The Japanese government did not issue any comment when the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced its decision Friday to award the peace prize to Geneva-based ICAN, a global network aiming to realize a world free of nuclear weapons.

ICAN made contributions to the adoption in July of a landmark U.N. treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapon states and nuclear umbrella states, including Japan, did not take part in negotiations on the treaty. Jiji Press