EDITORIAL: Nuclear disarmament

Five months ago, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Prague calling for "a world without nuclear weapons." The world has already started to act.

On Sept. 24, in New York, Obama will host a meeting of the 15 heads of the U.N. Security Council member states to discuss nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

The five permanent members of the Security Council are all nuclear powers and have veto power. The issue of nuclear disarmament that would require all five to cut their nuclear arsenals has long been considered taboo in the body.

Yet this year, the heads of state of those countries are going to discuss that very issue. This is a groundbreaking event. From Japan, a non-permanent member, Yukio Hatoyama, who will be prime minister by then, will participate.

In Hiroshima on Aug. 6, Hatoyama said of Obama's Prague speech that "Japan must be one step ahead." As leader of a country struck twice by atomic bombs, how does he intend to contribute to the nuclear disarmament process? We hope he will come up with a clear message at the United Nations.

At the U.N. disarmament conference in Niigata in late August, it was clear the dialogue on nuclear disarmament had shifted.

This conference is held in Japan each summer. World disarmament experts gather to discuss the issues and encourage nuclear disarmament. However, over the years, with disarmament talks at a standstill, and countries like India, Pakistan and North Korea conducting nuclear tests, momentum had stalled.

However, during the 21st meeting this year, Susan Burk, Obama's special representative for nuclear nonproliferation, stressed that Washington will cooperate with other countries toward the goal of nuclear disarmament. Many participants also expressed eagerness to revive the disarmament process leading to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference next May.

In addition, an international conference will be held to promote the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The treaty has been stalled for years.

Now with the arrival of Obama, who has said he will aim for ratification, the mood of the conference should change drastically.

Moreover, in October, the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (the so-called Kawaguchi-Evans committee), initiated by the Japanese and Australian governments, will put together a substantive proposal toward the creation of a world without nuclear weapons. And next spring, a summit meeting will be held in the United States to discuss an international control framework of nuclear material, proposed by Obama.

Japan should take an active role.

First, it should draw out a road map toward achieving a non-nuclear Northeast Asia as proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan. Also, the DPJ-led government should require all the nuclear powers to pledge not to use nuclear arms in a first strike.

It is also essential for the government to urge China to work toward nuclear arms reduction.

Of course, it is necessary to pursue patiently and persistently a solution to the sticky issues of North Korea's nuclear program and Iran's uranium enrichment, both of which threaten the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) framework itself.

We urge the DPJ-led government to show the world a uniquely Japanese concept of nuclear disarmament while maintaining close cooperation with the United States.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 12(IHT/Asahi: September 14,2009)