Hidankyo to Boost Antinuclear Efforts as START Treaty Expires

Tokyo, Feb. 5 (Jiji Press)–The hibakusha atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo said Thursday it will boost its efforts toward denuclearization, following the expiration the same day of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, the last nuclear disarmament framework between the United States and Russia. “We will strengthen our campaign activity so that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will have more power,” Terumi Tanaka, 93, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said at a press conference. He said that the number of nuclear weapons owned by the United States and Russia is overwhelming and that China is also expanding its nuclear arsenal. “I have a sense that nuclear war could occur in the not-too-distant future, leading to annihilation,” Tanaka said. “Therefore, the Japanese government should deal with the situation with sincerity, appealing even to the citizens of nuclear-armed states to prevent such an outcome,” he added. “The expiration of the treaty, at a time when politics is dominated by force, could heighten the risk of an accelerating arms race,” Nihon Hidankyo Secretary-General Jiro Hamasumi, 80, said. “We will raise our voices.” Akira Kawasaki, 57, a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, said the threat of nuclear war will increase due to the expiration of New START. “We need to go back to the starting point, where neither the use nor the existence of nuclear weapons is allowed.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]