Friday, April 9, 2010

Hatoyama welcomes new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reduction pact

    Apr 8 09:09 PM US/Eastern

    TOKYO, April 9 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday welcomed a new treaty signed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague, urging the two countries to ratify it soon.

    "It's great news for the world, that the number of nuclear warheads and their means of delivery will be drastically reduced," Hatoyama told reporters outside his official residence.

    "While I think there's still a way to go, the signing before the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May is something I welcome greatly," he said. "I hope they will ratify it soon, if possible."

    Hatoyama pledged that Japan, as a country that has suffered atomic bombings, will take the lead in realizing a world without nuclear weapons, a goal advocated by Obama in a speech he made in the Czech Republic capital a year ago.

    The new treaty would bring the number of nuclear warheads deployed by the United States and Russia to the lowest level ever and replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1.

    The signing of the new treaty came ahead of the U.S.-sponsored Nuclear Security Summit in Washington next Monday and Tuesday, which Hatoyama will attend, and the NPT review conference in New York next month.

    Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa also hailed the signing of the treaty, saying it is "the first step toward a new world."

    The action by the United States and Russia, which together have more than 90 percent of the nuclear warheads in the world, "sends a message that raises hopes of people all over the world," he told reporters.