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Hiroshima Mayor departs for NPT Preparatory Committee with hope for North Korea’s denuclearization

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

In the wake of North Korea’s decision to suspend nuclear tests and shut down its nuclear test site, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui expressed his hope that this will be the first step toward the denuclearization of North Korea. On April 22, Mr. Matsui responded to an interview with reporters at Hiroshima Airport in Mihara City before he left for the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT) to be held in Geneva, Switzerland starting on April 23.

At the Preparatory Committee, it is expected that nuclear issues involving North Korea will be discussed. Mr. Matsui said, “To advance denuclearization, I hope that the policy of protecting global citizens by inhumanely threatening to use nuclear weapons will come to an end,” and stressed that all the other nuclear weapon states must also eliminate their nuclear weapons. He is scheduled to deliver a speech on April 25 as a representative of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the Preparatory Committee meeting, in which he will clearly convey to the world the desire of the people of Hiroshima for nuclear abolition and peace.

On April 22, Hidehiko Yuzaki, Hiroshima’s prefectural governor, who will also attend the Preparatory Committee meeting, told reporters at Hiroshima Airport before his departure that North Korean’s suspension of nuclear tests will be welcomed in order to ease international tensions and that he hopes this will help lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Mr. Yuzaki will talk about Hiroshima Prefecture’s projects and efforts to help realize a nuclear-free world, including the “Hiroshima Round Table,” international gatherings where experts discuss ways to advance toward nuclear disarmament.

(Originally published on April 23, 2018)

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