Left Behind Anti-nuclear Pact

129 countries adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in a meeting in United Nations on Friday. The first multilateral treaty for illegalizing nuclear weapon will be activated with 50 or more countries’ ratification. While U.N. homepage cerebrated the adoption of the treaty with old photograph of Hiroshima right after atomic bombing in 1945, Japan defied that international effort to eliminate nuclear weapons. Japanese sufferers of nuclear war were deeply disappointed with their government.

The treaty prohibits member countries to use, develop, test, produce or possess nuclear weapons. Urged by some diligent countries, it also bans threat of using nuclear weapon, which may consist the basis of nuclear deterrence. The countries participated in the treaty are nations out of nuclear umbrella of United States, including Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Sweden or Indonesia. “The treaty represents an important step and contribution towards the common aspirations of a world nuclear weapons,” told the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres.

The weakest point of the treaty is absence of major countries. Five permanent members of U.N. Security Council, all of which possess nuclear weapons, did not participated in the negotiation. Actual owners, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel, also defied it. Countries under nuclear umbrella of U.S., including Germany, South Korea, Italy or Canada, had to take distance from it, questioning actual effect of the treaty in the context of international nuclear disarmament.

Japan walked out of the negotiation in March, expressing its frustration with the treaty not leading to solution of actual security issues. It can be said that Japan was cooperating with major countries which focused on effectiveness of nuclear disarmament. But, it was also possible for the only country that suffered from nuclear war with huge number of innocent victims to have joined the treaty and persuade major countries to abandon their deadly toy.

Preamble of the treaty starts with description about the basic principle of nuclear disarmament. “Mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the victims of the use of nuclear weapons (hibakusha),” says the treaty. To insert the expression of “unacceptable suffering,” the member countries made serious discussion before reaching agreement. Considering that the argument must have been made and led by Japan, the negative attitude of Japanese government is unacceptable. Seriousness of its own history is questioned.