Japan wants to see "nuclear and nonnuclear states join to discuss ways to realize a world without nuclear weapons," Kishida said in a speech in Kobe, western Japan.

Japan, the only nation attacked with nuclear weapons, is drawing criticism for not participating in the international treaty to ban nuclear arms, which was adopted earlier this month. It sees the treaty as lacking effectiveness, as nuclear weapons states are not expected to join it.

The eminent persons group is expected to propose disarmament measures acceptable to both nuclear and nonnuclear nations around March next year.

The group will be chaired by Takashi Shiraishi, former president of Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. It will also include survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and experts from Egypt and New Zealand, which support the nuclear ban treaty. (Jiji Press)