Nuclear Nonproliferation Meeting Kicks Off at U.N.

New York, April 27 (Jiji Press)–A review conference for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty kicked off at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, with difficult negotiations expected amid slowing momentum for nuclear disarmament. In his opening speech, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “the drivers of proliferation are accelerating,” saying that “commitments remain unfulfilled and trust and credibility are wearing thin.” Noting that Japanese hibakusha atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024, Guterres said that the group’s message to the world could not be more urgent, calling disarmament a foundation of peace. In a general debate speech session, Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayano Kunimitsu, who spent her youth in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both atomic-bombed in the closing days of World War II in 1945, read a statement from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In it, Takaichi said that the world faces “an urgent imperative to maintain and strengthen the NPT” to “ensure that it is passed on to future generations in an even more robust form.” “Japan is, and will continue to be, a guardian of the NPT,” Kunimitsu said later in the session. Earlier on Monday, the United States and other countries slammed the election of Iran as a vice president of the conference. Christopher Yeaw, U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, said that Iran continues to violate the treaty and that its election is “beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility” of the conference. Reza Najafi, the Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, countered that the U.S. claim is “baseless and politically motivated,” and described U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities as “a grave violation of international law and a direct assault on the integrity of global nonproliferation.” The conference will continue through May 22. The general debate will be held through Thursday, after which discussions will move to three committees. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]