Japan PM Kishida urges nuclear states to act ‘responsibly’ about non-proliferation

• Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urges all nuclear states to act “responsibly” in non-proliferation efforts.
• Hiroshima was the first city in the world to be bombed with a nuclear device during World War II.
• U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will travel to Hiroshima for 70th anniversary next month.

TOKYO, August 1 – On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged all nuclear states to act “responsibly” in non-proliferation efforts, saying the road to a world free of nuclear weapons had become much more difficult.

Kishida, the leader of the only nation to have suffered nuclear attacks during wartime, warned that global divisions were widening, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin obliquely raising the possibility of a nuclear strike at the start of the conflict.

North Korea, which has conducted a number of missile tests this year, is also thought to be planning a nuclear test.

“The world is concerned that the threat of nuclear weapons-related catastrophe has reappeared,” he said in a speech.

“It must be said that the path to a nuclear-free world has suddenly become even more difficult.”

Kishida was the first Japanese leader to speak at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) at the United Nations in New York City.

Kishida, a native of Hiroshima, which was the first city in the world to be bombed with a nuclear device during the final days of World War II, has made nuclear non-proliferation a cause.

Three days later, the second nuclear bombing of Nagasaki occurred.

Kishida was foreign minister when US President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016, the first sitting US president to do so, and has chosen Hiroshima as the site for the Group of Seven nations summit next year.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, announced on Monday that he will travel to Hiroshima for the anniversary on August 6.

“We call on all nuclear states to conduct themselves responsibly,” Kishida said of non-proliferation efforts.

“From this vantage point, we support arms control and nuclear reduction talks between the US and Russia, and we encourage similar talks between the US and China.”

Other efforts should include increasing transparency about nuclear weapons, strengthening non-proliferation treaties, and establishing a $10 million fund to educate young leaders about the dangers of nuclear weapons.

“Nagasaki must be the last city bombed,” Kishida said.

He also stated that peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be encouraged while maintaining its safety, citing the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Following a spike in fuel prices and a June heat wave in which Japan avoided a power outage, Kishima has pushed for nine reactors to be operational by the end of the year, up from the current five.

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