HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – The effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons has been made more complex by North Korea’s repeated provocations said Japanese Foreign Minister, Fumio Kishida, during a news conference on Monday (April 11)
The meeting of Group of Seven most industrial nations (G7) Foreign ministers closed on Monday in the city of Hiroshima with a call for nations to meet the conditions for a nuclear free world.
Hiroshima is one of the only two cities in the world to have ever experienced a nuclear attack.
Closing the meeting of the G7 Foreign Ministers was Japanese Foreign minister Fumio Kishida, a native of the city.
He called on the important of regaining lost momentum.
“There are concerns that the pursuit to make a nuclear-weapon-free world is losing momentum recently, and North Korea’s nuclear test and launches of ballistic missiles in such time have added complexity to the world’s effort for disarmament and non-proliferation,” Kishida said at the end of the the two-day gathering of the top diplomats of the G7 countries.
The G7 statement concluding the meeting as also emphasized their commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Ministers released a statement on maintaining a maritime order based upon the principles of international law, and expressed concerns about the situation in the East and South China Seas.
While not naming China directly the statement was a clear reference to territorial disputes China and nations such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan are engaged in.
“Regarding the unilateral actions in East China Sea and South China Sea that could alter the status quo, we shared the same view that we are strongly concerned about the situation and oppose such actions,” Kishida said.
China is building islands on reefs in the South China Sea to bolster its claims. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, that are believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas and through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.