The ruling and opposition parties have decided to set up shortly a suprapartisan group for the abolition of nuclear weapons at the request of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo.
On Thursday, hibakusha atomic bomb survivors from Nihon Hidankyo visited an office building of House of Councilors lawmakers in Tokyo to convey the request in a meeting with representatives of eight parties including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
The Nihon Hidankyo members criticized the government for ignoring the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and refusing to send a representative as an observer to a meeting of signatories to the treaty. "The world expects Japan to lead the way in nuclear abolition," one of the members said.
House of Representatives lawmaker Minoru Terada from the LDP announced his participation in the suprapartisan group, saying, "We will steadfastly pursue the abolition of nuclear weapons and the relief of hibakusha."
CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda said that the Japanese government should at least participate as an observer in a meeting of signatories to the nuclear ban treaty.
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