As citizens living in Northeast
Asia, sharing the memory of the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and
hoping for the realisation of the abolition of nuclear weapons as soon
as possible, strongly condemn the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and stress that this test threatens
the peace and security of all Northeast Asian citizens, including those
of North Korea. In these circumstances, we make the following requests
of the members of the Six-Party Talks.
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We call on the North Korean government to immediately return to the Six-Party Talks, fundamentally moving away from a foreign policy based on provocation and threat such as through the rocket test launches and nuclear tests, to aiming for national security through the establishment of dialogue and regional security mechanisms based on confidence building. Furthermore, we call for initiation of concrete actions towards the destruction of stockpiled nuclear weapons, complete renunciation of nuclear weapons development, and the denuclearisation of the Northeast Asian region.
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We call on the Japanese Government to strongly oppose North Korean nuclear testing from the position of the only country to have ever suffered an atomic attack. Furthermore, we ask Japan to enshrine its own three non-nuclear principles into law, and return to the principles of the Pyongyang Declaration, working towards the resolution of the abduction issue, settlement of issues relating to Japan's history of invasion and colonial rule, and the realisation of a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone within the process of negotiations towards normalisation of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea.
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We call on the Government of the United States to recommence direct negotiations with North Korea, put forward concrete suggestions for resolution of North Korea's energy supply and economic aid problems, and strongly urge North Korea to make a shift in its policy. Furthermore, we call for the realisation of the denuclearisation of Northeast Asia, including the US military bases located in Japan and South Korea. We also strongly urge the US to cease the strengthening of its missile defence related weapons, which are provocative to North Korea; implement significant disarmament of its own nuclear weapons, as one of the nuclear weapon superpowers; and at the same time declare no first use of nuclear weapons.
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To the South Korean government, we request efforts to make the Six-Party Talks function as a step towards the regional peace process of Northeast Asia, through normalising relations with the Government of North Korea by acts such as strengthening food aid and renewing initiatives to reunite families divided across the border between the two Koreas.
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We request Russia and China to make steps towards nuclear disarmament as nuclear powers, and to fully cooperate for the establishment of a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone.
Enquiries regarding this release:
Peace Boat office (Yoshioka Tatsuya)
Tel: 03-3363-8047
Fax:03-3363-7562
pbglobal[a]peaceboat.gr.jp
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