Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki call on Japanese government to join negotiations for treaty to ban nuclear weapons
Mar. 16, 2017
On March 15, Kazumi Matsui, the mayor of Hiroshima, and Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, made a written request to Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, calling on the Japanese government to take part in the upcoming conference at the United Nations to negotiate a treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons. The conference is scheduled to begin on March 27 at U.N. headquarters in New York.
The letter stressed that Japan, as the only nation to have experienced nuclear attack, should demonstrate courage and exercise strong leadership in serving as a bridge between the nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states. The two mayors went on by making an appeal for the Japanese government to do its utmost to help realize the treaty.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki City employees at the Tokyo Offices of the two cities delivered the request to the Arms Control and Disarmament Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Naobumi Yokota, the principal deputy director of the division, received the request and said that the Japanese government will take this request into account as it considers the matter of participating in the conference.
Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki also submitted a written request with a similar appeal to Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the same day.
(Originally published on March 16, 2017)
The letter stressed that Japan, as the only nation to have experienced nuclear attack, should demonstrate courage and exercise strong leadership in serving as a bridge between the nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states. The two mayors went on by making an appeal for the Japanese government to do its utmost to help realize the treaty.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki City employees at the Tokyo Offices of the two cities delivered the request to the Arms Control and Disarmament Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Naobumi Yokota, the principal deputy director of the division, received the request and said that the Japanese government will take this request into account as it considers the matter of participating in the conference.
Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki also submitted a written request with a similar appeal to Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the same day.
(Originally published on March 16, 2017)
