UN Secretary-General's Op-Ed in Japanese Newspaper: "Nuclear Threats Rising Again"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunbyeol Kim] United Nations Secretary-General Ant?nio Guterres appealed on the 6th to create a "world without nuclear weapons," stating that the nuclear threat is increasing again.

In an article contributed to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, Secretary-General Guterres said, "Seeing the indelible suffering of the atomic bomb survivors, we must renew our determination every day to eliminate all nuclear weapons."

He continued, "The reality is that the nuclear threat is increasing again," pointing out that agreements and systems to prevent the use and dismantlement of nuclear weapons have not worked for decades and are beginning to collapse.

Guterres stated, "The possibility of nuclear weapons being used intentionally, accidentally, or mistakenly is increasing," citing the unstable confrontational relations among nuclear-armed countries as the background. He added, "The tendency to rely on nuclear weapons for national security is intensifying, and politicians sometimes mention the possibility of nuclear use," emphasizing that the enormous funds spent on enhancing destructive power should be used for peaceful and sustainable development.

He also said, "Nuclear tests have brought terrible consequences to humanity and the environment over decades," and that the relics of the past era focused on nuclear development must be sealed forever. He warned that most of the approximately 13,000 nuclear warheads worldwide have far greater destructive power than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which would cause disasters.

Furthermore, Secretary-General Guterres urged, "We must now return to the common understanding that there are no winners in nuclear war, aiming for agreements toward a world without nuclear weapons, and the spirit of cooperation that has achieved historic progress in nuclear disarmament," calling for proactive responses from the United States and Russia, which possess 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.

He pointed out that if the United States and Russia agree to extend the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which expires in February next year, for five years, it would buy time for negotiations to reach new agreements on nuclear reduction, including encouraging participation from other nuclear-armed countries. New START was concluded during the Barack Obama administration and limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads by the United States and Russia to 1,550 each.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.