Yamaguchi attends anti-nuke discussion in Hiroshima

August 8 , 2021

Yamaguchi spoke at a nuclear abolition panel in Hiroshima on Aug. 5 Yamaguchi spoke at a nuclear abolition panel in Hiroshima on Aug. 5

Komeito Chief Representative Natsuo Yamaguchi took part in a panel discussion organized by the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, which it held on August 5 in remembrance of the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The keynote speaker was United Nations Under-Secretary-General of Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu.

The panelists gathered to discuss how Japan should respond to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which was ratified in January this year. Akira Kawasaki, the network’s co-facilitator and member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) international steering group, served as the MC.

Yamaguchi said that the Japanese government needs to participate in the TPNW’s Conference of Parties as an observer state, but that should only be seen as an interim step before Japan can fully ratify the treaty by preparing for itself the proper groundwork for a more conducive security environment. UN Under-Secretary-General Nakamitsu pointed out that the risk that nuclear arms would be used, either deliberately or by accident, was at its highest today since the 1980s. She expressed hope that the Conference would serve as an opportune platform for Japan to clearly lay out its goals in abolishing nuclear weapons.

Representatives from other political parties also attended the event. Komeito House of Councilors member Masayoshi Hamada, who heads the party’s nuclear weapons abolition committee, participated by remote.