NPT preparatory committee closes, urges North Korea to refrain from further nuclear testing
May 17, 2012
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer dispatched from Vienna, Austria
On May 11, the First Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference closed in Vienna, Austria after concluding its two-week schedule. Amid growing concerns that North Korea may pursue a third nuclear test, the preparatory committee declared that North Korea’s nuclear development program constitutes “a challenge to the NPT regime,” and it pressed the nation to exercise self-restraint and renounce its entire nuclear arsenal.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States and China, released a joint statement demanding that North Korea refrain from conducting another nuclear test. Other nations, including Japan and South Korea, urged North Korea to forsake its nuclear ambitions as well as resolve the concern over its recent launch of a ballistic missile, which North Korea had claimed was a satellite.
In addition, the preparatory committee stressed the importance of making steady efforts to implement the 64-item action plan that was agreed upon at the previous review conference held in 2010. It also underscored the need, in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, to reinforce the safety measures put in place to secure the world’s nuclear energy facilities.
On May 11, Peter Woolcott, the permanent representative of Australia to the United Nations and the chair of the preparatory committee, issued a summary of the committee’s discussions.
These discussions, which began on April 30, involved such subjects as nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Representatives from the world’s nations shared their recent efforts and their views with regard to these themes. At official committee functions, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue made appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
A total of three gatherings of the preparatory committee will be held prior to the next NPT review conference, scheduled for 2015. The Second Preparatory Committee will take place in Geneva, Switzerland next spring.
The First Preparatory Conference for the 2015 NPT Review Conference was held amid growing concern over the possibility of further nuclear tests by North Korea. Although that nation’s actions constitute a grave challenge to the world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime, the nuclear weapon states did not make any new overtures with respect to nuclear disarmament. The discussions that took place between the nuclear weapon states and the non-nuclear weapons states, which are pressing for tangible steps toward disarmament, lacked common ground and highlighted the gap in perception that divides the two sides.
At the previous review conference, held in 2010, the vision of “a world without nuclear weapons” found agreement among all parties and the participants proclaimed a 64-item action plan to move forward toward this goal. In that sense, the current gathering was the first occasion to confirm the efforts being made by NPT member nations since the review conference.
In the discussions involving nuclear disarmament, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, comprised of such nuclear powers as the United States, Russia, and China, were focused only on the agenda announced beforehand.
Specifically, the United States stated with pride that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia had come into effect in 2011. Russia, however, has retained a cautious stance in talks between the two nations on short-range tactical nuclear arms, weapons that are not covered by the treaty, and thus the issue remains unresolved. And no nuclear weapon state presented any proactive efforts that might move the earth closer to realizing the goal of “a world without nuclear weapons.”
The non-nuclear weapon states responded with frustration, voicing such comments as “For the nuclear non-proliferation regime to work, the nuclear weapon states must take the initiative in promoting disarmament” and “There are still thousands of nuclear warheads on the earth.”
As for Japan, it lacked a compelling presence at the conference as well. Although Japan described its efforts to create a “standard nuclear disarmament reporting form,” designed for the nuclear weapon states to record such information as reductions in their arsenals of nuclear warheads, and called for the nuclear powers to use this form, it made no remarks pressing these nations to disarm.
An official in the foreign ministry offered his view of the conference, saying, “It went smoothly, from beginning to end, but to some degree the conference lacked enthusiasm. A number of nations were taking a wait-and-see approach.”
Keiko Nakamura, an associate professor at Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, located in the city of Nagasaki, remarked after observing the discussions: “The nations each took the position of not wanting to lose positive momentum for the next review conference. Though this consideration is important, it also meant that a variety of nuclear challenges were ultimately set aside.”
(Originally published on May 12, 2012)
On May 11, the First Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference closed in Vienna, Austria after concluding its two-week schedule. Amid growing concerns that North Korea may pursue a third nuclear test, the preparatory committee declared that North Korea’s nuclear development program constitutes “a challenge to the NPT regime,” and it pressed the nation to exercise self-restraint and renounce its entire nuclear arsenal.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States and China, released a joint statement demanding that North Korea refrain from conducting another nuclear test. Other nations, including Japan and South Korea, urged North Korea to forsake its nuclear ambitions as well as resolve the concern over its recent launch of a ballistic missile, which North Korea had claimed was a satellite.
In addition, the preparatory committee stressed the importance of making steady efforts to implement the 64-item action plan that was agreed upon at the previous review conference held in 2010. It also underscored the need, in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, to reinforce the safety measures put in place to secure the world’s nuclear energy facilities.
On May 11, Peter Woolcott, the permanent representative of Australia to the United Nations and the chair of the preparatory committee, issued a summary of the committee’s discussions.
These discussions, which began on April 30, involved such subjects as nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Representatives from the world’s nations shared their recent efforts and their views with regard to these themes. At official committee functions, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue made appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
A total of three gatherings of the preparatory committee will be held prior to the next NPT review conference, scheduled for 2015. The Second Preparatory Committee will take place in Geneva, Switzerland next spring.
Commentary: NPT conference closes with little substantive discussion made between nuclear and non-nuclear states
The First Preparatory Conference for the 2015 NPT Review Conference was held amid growing concern over the possibility of further nuclear tests by North Korea. Although that nation’s actions constitute a grave challenge to the world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime, the nuclear weapon states did not make any new overtures with respect to nuclear disarmament. The discussions that took place between the nuclear weapon states and the non-nuclear weapons states, which are pressing for tangible steps toward disarmament, lacked common ground and highlighted the gap in perception that divides the two sides.
At the previous review conference, held in 2010, the vision of “a world without nuclear weapons” found agreement among all parties and the participants proclaimed a 64-item action plan to move forward toward this goal. In that sense, the current gathering was the first occasion to confirm the efforts being made by NPT member nations since the review conference.
In the discussions involving nuclear disarmament, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, comprised of such nuclear powers as the United States, Russia, and China, were focused only on the agenda announced beforehand.
Specifically, the United States stated with pride that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia had come into effect in 2011. Russia, however, has retained a cautious stance in talks between the two nations on short-range tactical nuclear arms, weapons that are not covered by the treaty, and thus the issue remains unresolved. And no nuclear weapon state presented any proactive efforts that might move the earth closer to realizing the goal of “a world without nuclear weapons.”
The non-nuclear weapon states responded with frustration, voicing such comments as “For the nuclear non-proliferation regime to work, the nuclear weapon states must take the initiative in promoting disarmament” and “There are still thousands of nuclear warheads on the earth.”
As for Japan, it lacked a compelling presence at the conference as well. Although Japan described its efforts to create a “standard nuclear disarmament reporting form,” designed for the nuclear weapon states to record such information as reductions in their arsenals of nuclear warheads, and called for the nuclear powers to use this form, it made no remarks pressing these nations to disarm.
An official in the foreign ministry offered his view of the conference, saying, “It went smoothly, from beginning to end, but to some degree the conference lacked enthusiasm. A number of nations were taking a wait-and-see approach.”
Keiko Nakamura, an associate professor at Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, located in the city of Nagasaki, remarked after observing the discussions: “The nations each took the position of not wanting to lose positive momentum for the next review conference. Though this consideration is important, it also meant that a variety of nuclear challenges were ultimately set aside.”
(Originally published on May 12, 2012)
