Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday called on all nuclear weapons states to increase transparency in their capability as he pledged his utmost for the adoption of a final document at a U.N. conference on nuclear nonproliferation.
Born into a family from Hiroshima Prefecture, whose capital was devastated by a 1945 U.S. atomic bombing, Kishida told a nuclear disarmament meeting that Japan will take the lead in bringing nations with differing positions on nuclear arms together to focus on promoting coordination in efforts toward a world free of such weapons.
"Unfortunately, the reality facing the world is that discussion has not progressed over reducing the number of nuclear weapons, let alone nuclear abolishment. Rather, there are fears that the number of nuclear weapons will increase," Kishida told the virtual meeting of government officials and experts from Japan and abroad, organized by the Foreign Ministry.