LDP lawmaker speaks at Hiroshima antinuke
confab
HIROSHIMA, Aug. 5 Kyodo - Taro Kono, a lawmaker
from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP), spoke on nuclear disarmament Saturday
at an antinuclear gathering in Hiroshima,
the first LDP lawmaker ever invited to deliver
an address at the event.
''Would you please raise your hand if you
believe nuclear weapons can be eliminated?''
Kono asked a gathering organized by the Japan
Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin).
Kono, 37, the son of Foreign Minister Yohei
Kono, calls himself the only LDP member who
has spoken out against nuclear power plants.
After about half of the 300 people in the
audience raised their hands, Kono said he
thought a ''realistic'' target would be to
urge the world to reduce the number of nuclear
warheads to 1,000 for the time being.
''To be honest, I'm not confident the world
can abolish nuclear weapons before I die.
But I will do everything in my power toward
that goal,'' he said.
Also speaking to the gathering was Toshio
Sano, the chief of the Foreign Ministry's
Arms Control and Disarmament Division. ''I
expect antinuclear nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) such as Gensuikin to help us compile
nuclear disarmament polici
Based on his experience at the United Nations,
Sano suggested it would be ''dangerous''
to expect too much from the U.N. Security
Council, where the nuclear powers have a
veto.
''It is historic to meet an LDP member and
a government official at such a gathering,''
said Masaru Nishida, the leader of a peace
group.
Katsuya Okada of the main opposition Democratic
Party of Japan and Tetsuo Kaneko of the Social
Democratic Party -- both parties back the
congress -- also attended the meeting.
The congress has been holding a series of
meetings since Friday in Hiroshima to commemorate
the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It will wrap them up Wednesday in Nagasaki.
==Kyodo
