Japan submits draft resolution on nuke abolition to U.N.

October 18, 2019

New York--The Japanese government on Thursday submitted a draft resolution calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons to the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, in the run-up to next year's review conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT.

The government changed the structure of this year's draft from its past such proposals submitted every year since 1994.

For the latest version, which is expected to be adopted by the committee in early November, Japan trimmed sections related to nuclear nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear power, while focusing on nuclear disarmament, an area of contention for many countries.

Ahead of the NPT review conference, nations should immediately take action together such as improving transparency, cutting down on nuclear risks, and implementing disarmament and nonproliferation education through exchanges with hibakusha, or survivors of the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the draft says.

It also calls for future-oriented talks in three areas, including correlations between disarmament and security.

The draft does not directly mention the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted at the United Nations in 2017, while expressing support for U.S.-North Korea talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Japan does not plan to join the nuclear ban treaty.

Unlike the past Japanese proposals, the latest draft resolution stops short of criticizing North Korea's nuclear and missile development.

A Japanese government official said that the draft resolution "is designed to encourage the establishment of a common foundation on which all countries can work in unity, and we hope it will be of help" toward the NPT review conference. Jiji Press