CSWPA No. 89E
October 11, 2006
The Committee of Seven for the Appeals on the World Peace
Kodi Husimi, Kinhide Mushakoji, Hideo Tsuchiyama,
Yoshino Oishi, Hisashi Inoue, Kayoko Ikeda, Michiji Konuma
We, the Committee of Seven for the Appeals on the World Peace, express our opposition to the nuclear weapon test conducted on October 9, 2006 by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). We believe that the test is unacceptable, whatever the conditions under which it has been conducted. It endangers peace and human security in the Korean Peninsula and its surroundings, and further in the world at large. To believe that the national security can rely on nuclear arms is only an illusion. It is clear that humankind cannot co-exist with nuclear armament when we recall the casualties caused by nuclear weapons and by their tests conducted since 1945
We urgently call upon all the states, beginning with Japan, who created the antagonistic environment which led the DPRK to conduct the nuclear test to guarantee its security, to avoid isolating further the DPRK in the United Nations. Otherwise the hope for a lasting peace in North East Asia may become impossible to achieve.
We take special interest in the third paragraph of the statement issued on October 3, 2006 by the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK, where it is clearly stated that “the DPRK will do its utmost to realize the denuclearization of the (Korean) peninsula and give impetus to the world-wide nuclear disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons”. The government of the DPRK should aim at achieving this objective through the Six-Party talks.
This is a proposal quite similar to that to create a nuclear weapon free zone in North East Asia including the Korean Peninsula and Japan already proposed in Japan. We acknowledge the Government of Japan to have supported the creation of the Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia. The Treaty to establish the NWFZ inCentral Asia was signed on September 8, 2006. The Nuclear Weapon Free Zones are presently covering the Southern hemisphere of the globe including the South Pole and is spreading in the Northern Hemisphere. The outer-space, the seabed and the ocean floor also are now prohibited the emplacement of nuclear weapons. The Government of Japan should make every effort to create a nuclear weapon free zone in Northeast Asia including Japan. This will be an important step to realize a nuclear weapon free world.
The members of the Six-Party Talks should develop bilateral negotiations, U.S.-DPRK and Japan-DPRK in support of the North-South talks of the Korean Peninsula between DPRK and ROK (Republic of Korea), before appealing to and proceeding on the basis of the Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations. In any event, international conflicts should be solved by means other than military. It is impossible to build a stable prosperous world through military means, and any move which may lead to the use of military force must be avoided by all parties concerned.
More basically, as long as the nuclear weapon states continue to adopt policies relying on nuclear weapons, it is unavoidable to have states without nuclear arms to be led into the illusory temptation to possess nuclear armament. The nuclear weapon states should realize that the nuclear test of DPRK has weakened further the international regime of non-proliferation and should respect the spirit of the Article 6 of the NPT, taking immediately earnest actions towards the abolition of their nuclear armament. It is wrong to believe that the present divided world between the nuclear weapon states and the non-nuclear weapon states can continue indefinitely.
We call upon the DPRK to return to its original intent expressed in its statement and engage into negotiation for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and its neighboring region. We call upon the Government of Japan and of the other concerned states to open immediately an earnest negotiation with the DPRK without any conditions in the service of world peace and of the survival of humankind.
