TOKYO — The US envoy to the United Nations on Friday called on countries armed with nuclear weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament during her visit to the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the first US Cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in all corners of the world,” she said after touring the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have these weapons, we must pursue gun control. We can and must ensure that Nagasaki is the last place we will ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack on Nagasaki three days later killed another 70,000 people. Japan capitulated on August 15, ending World War II and nearly half a century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield’s visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will send a powerful message in furthering the momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time when the world is facing a serious climate. surrounding nuclear weapons.”
Oishi said he made clear to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need for nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield’s visit to Japan follows Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington’s trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is investigating establishing a new mechanism to monitor North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted US-led efforts to increase UN sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile tests since 2022, underscoring a deepening rift between permanent members of the Security Council over Russia’s war against Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, although it is uncertain whether that is possible.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have deepened their security ties amid rising tensions in the region from North Korea and China.
