nuclear-news

Nuclear rebuke as Nagasaki marks 68th year

….Tokyo apparently refused to sign the document because of its security arrangement with the United States, which could include an option to deploy nuclear weapons from Japan to counter the threat of North Korea….

Mari Yamaguchi,

Associated Press Posted:

Saturday, August 10, 2013, 1:07 AM

TOKYO – Nagasaki’s mayor criticized Japan’s government Friday for failing to back an international nuclear-disarmament effort as the country marked the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of his city.

Mayor Tomihisa Taue said Japan’s inaction “betrayed expectations of the global community.” Japan refused in April to sign an unconditional pledge by nearly 80 countries to never use nuclear weapons. The document, prepared by a U.N. committee, is largely symbolic, because none of the signatories possesses nuclear weapons.

Countries with nuclear arsenals that have not signed it include the United States, Russia, India, and Pakistan. Japan does not have nuclear weapons and has pledged not to produce any, although some hawkish members of the ruling party say the country should consider a nuclear option.

Taue said the refusal by Japan, as the world’s only victim of atomic bombings, to join the initiative contradicted its nonnuclear pledge. “I call on the government of Japan to return to the origin of our pledge as an atomic-bombed country,” he said at the peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 blast.

Tokyo apparently refused to sign the document because of its security arrangement with the United States, which could include an option to deploy nuclear weapons from Japan to counter the threat of North Korea. About 6,000 people, including U.S. Ambassador John Roos, attended Friday’s ceremony after offering silent prayers for the victims of the U.S. atomic bombings – on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, and on Hiroshima three days earlier.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130810_Nuclear_rebuke_as_Nagasaki_marks_68th_year.html

Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki, addressing the NPT delegates to the 2010 Review Conference of the NPT at the UN

August 11, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized