NEW YORK- Japan will not sign the first-ever treaty to legally ban nuclear arms, which was adopted at a UN conference on Friday, Japanese ambassador to the United Nations Koro Bessho said the same day.

Speaking to reporters, Bessho explained that Japan has been aiming for nuclear abolition that will be achieved under cooperation between the nuclear-weapons states and the nuclear have-nots, by taking into account both the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and the up-to-date security environment.

"Regrettably, the talks on the treaty were not conducted in such a way," Bessho said.

At the same time, Bessho said Japan will continue to make efforts to help build trust between nuclear powers and nonnuclear-weapon states.

All of the nuclear-weapons states, which are against the nuclear ban treaty, and most countries under the US nuclear umbrella, including Japan , did not take part in the UN talks.

More than 120 countries adopted the first-ever treaty to legally ban nuclear arms at a UN conference in New York on Friday.

The pact that prohibits the use, possession and manufacturing of nuclear weapons was adopted with 122 votes in favor, one vote against and one abstention.

The pact acknowledged that member countries are "mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the victims of the use of nuclear weapons (hibakusha), as well as of those affected by the testing of nuclear weapons."

The treaty also urged member states not to "threaten to use" nuclear weapons.

This is the first multilateral treaty on nuclear weapons since the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, was adopted in 1996. The CTBT has yet to take effect.

The new treaty will be open for signature starting in September. It will enter into force when it is ratified by at least 50 countries.

But it is unlikely that the treaty will lead to actual nuclear disarmament as nuclear weapons states are not expected to join it.

Talks on the treaty started in March at the initiative of nonnuclear weapons states which have been concerned about slow progress in nuclear disarmament.

But nuclear weapons states and most nuclear umbrella states, including Japan , did not participate in the talks. As a result, no specific nuclear disarmament steps were included in the treaty.

Countries and nongovernmental organizations pushing to abolish nuclear weapons plan to establish recognition that nuclear weapons are illegal, in an effort to add momentum to nuclear disarmament.

The pact set procedures for nuclear weapons states to join it in the future.

The treaty also stipulates that nonsignatory countries are invited to a biennial meeting of signatories as observers, offering a venue for discussions on nuclear disarmament.

Japan is the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks. But the Japanese government was absent from the negotiations, claiming that the talks would deepen the schism and division in the international community and keep away a world without nuclear arms.

It is effectively impossible for Japan to join the treaty as a country relying on nuclear deterrence.

As the only atomic-bombed country, however, Japan 's role in eliminating nuclear weapons is seen as important. (Jiji Press)