Toward a nuclear weapon-free world
(From The Japan Times August 6 issue)

核兵器のない世界へ向けて

    A series of events have hampered anti-nuclear moves. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference failed, and North Korea and Iran have been pushing their own nuclear programs. Their development efforts may not yet be at the stage of producing large bombs, but it has reached the extent where they worry their neighbors and destabilize regional peace.

    The review conference held in New York in May did not produce any agreement to further strengthen the NPT regime because of a rift between nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states. While nuclear-weapon states were urged to cut their nuclear arsenals and refrain from developing new nuclear weapons, they, especially the United States, demanded that the NPT member countries focus on the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea. The failure of the review does not mean the collapse of the NPT regime, but it has weakened the momentum of efforts to rid the world of nuclear threats.

    In 2002, in the first reduction agreement of its kind in nearly a decade, the United States and Russia signed a treaty to cut their deployed strategic nuclear forces by approximately two-thirds to 1,700-2,200 warheads each by 2012. But even with this treaty, the weapons will be mothballed — not destroyed — and no verification procedures are provided. It is estimated that over 30,000 nuclear warheads are scattered throughout the world now.

    The nuclear-weapon states must take a lead role in working to realize the NPT's ambition of creating a nuclear weapon-free world. They can do this by carrying out substantial cuts in their nuclear arsenals. Only when they move toward that direction will they have a credible ability to persuade other nations, including nuclear gray states like India, Pakistan and Israel, to abandon their nuclear weapons and programs that may lead to the production of the weapons.

    As the United States' responsibility for the disarmament as the only superpower in the world is heavy, it is regrettable that the country refuses to join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. On the contrary, it is moving to turn nuclear weapons — whose use has been unimaginable since the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — into more "practical" weapons such as small-yield mininukes and earth penetrators.

    The lack of enthusiasm for disarmament on the part of nuclear-weapon states provides countries like North Korea and Iran with an excuse for pursuing a nuclear-development program.

    North Korea apparently has been using its nuclear-weapons program as a means of securing political and economic gains. If North Korea becomes a full-fledged nuclear-weapon state, it not only poses a serious threat to other nations in the region but may encourage an extreme reaction on the part of some elements in Japan, including demands that Japan arm itself with nuclear weapons.

    The confession by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear-weapons program, sounded an alarm because it showed that one individual could play a significant role in proliferating nuclear-arms technology. Although he dealt with states, his case points to the danger of terrorists acquiring nuclear-weapons technology from scientists who do not guard themselves against the risks of contributing to proliferation. It shows that the fear felt since the collapse of the Soviet Union that nuclear-weapons technology might find its way into the hands of terrorists is not far-fetched.

    With the number of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings dwindling, it is important that the experiences of the two cities be handed down to future generations worldwide.

    An encouraging sign was the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims' sponsorship of an atomic bomb exhibition in Chicago that coincided with the NPT review conference — the first such event by the body.

    As the only nation on Earth to suffer from atomic bombings, Japan should step up such efforts in earnest.

The Japan Times Weekly
August 13, 2005
(C) All rights reserved

      核不拡散条約（NPT）再検討会議は失敗に終わり、北朝鮮とイランは核開発を進めている。ニューヨークで5月に開催された同会議は、核保有国と非保有国の利害の衝突のため、NPT体制を強化する合意に達せず、核廃絶の取り組みは弱体化した。

      米露は、配備済みの戦略的核兵器を2012年までに3分の2削減、それぞれ1700〜2200基とする条約に02年調印したが、核兵器は廃棄されるのでなく長期保存状態に置かれるだけで、検証制度もない。世界には今、3万基以上の核弾頭があるという。

      核兵器保有国は、核兵器のない世界というNPTの目標達成に指導的役割を果たさねばならない。自国の核兵器備蓄を大幅に削減することによってのみ、インド、パキスタン、イスラエルなど核保有が疑われる国々に核廃絶を迫ることができる。

      米が包括的核実験禁止条約の調印を拒み、小型核爆弾や地中貫通型核爆弾などを開発しているのは残念なことだ。

      核保有国は軍縮に関心を示さないことで、北朝鮮やイランに核開発の口実を与えている。

      パキスタンの「核開発計画の父」とされるアブドル・カディル・カーン博士がそうだったように、ひとりの専門家が核拡散に重要な役割を果たすことは可能性だ。核技術がテロリストに渡る恐れもある。

      広島・長崎の被爆者のうち、生存者は少なくなってきている。2都市の悲惨な経験を次世代に伝えることが重要だ。

      国立長崎原爆死没者追悼平和祈念館主催の原爆展が、NPT再検討会議に合わせシカゴで開催された。唯一の原爆被災国として、日本は同様の努力を推進すべきだ。