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Japanese prime minister will not attend NPT Review Conference

by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer

On April 8, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama revealed that he will not attend the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the United Nations Headquarters slated for this May.

According to Hideo Tsuchiyama, a former president of Nagasaki University and a member of the Committee of Seven for World Peace Appeal, and others who saw Mr. Hatoyama at the prime minister's office, Mr. Hatoyama told them that due to a scheduling conflict, his attendance at the conference is unlikely.

The NPT Review Conference will begin on May 3, and state leaders from around the world are expected to deliver speeches. In response to the Nuclear Posture Review articulating the new guidelines for U.S. nuclear strategy and other recent developments involving the nuclear issue, survivors of the atomic bombings and anti-nuclear and peace organizations have been demanding that leadership be shown by the A-bombed nation in order to help realize a world free of nuclear weapons.

On November 9 of last year, at a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee, Mr. Hatoyama said that he personally had a strong wish to attend the conference.

The Foreign Ministry said that at this point the attendance of the prime minister and/or Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada at the conference has not been officially decided.

In their meeting with the prime minister, Mr. Tsuchiyama and others argued for the importance of a Nuclear Weapons Convention, a new framework which would include non-signatories of the NPT such as India, Pakistan, and Israel, and urged Mr. Hatoyama to commence the negotiations promptly and conclude such a treaty. The prime minister reportedly said that he would like to study the issue.

(Originally published on April 9, 2010)

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