Japan Press Weekly

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2016 September 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

JCP legislators urge gov’t to resolve North Korea’s nuclear weapons issue through dialogue

Following North Korea’s fifth nuclear weapons test, committees of both the two Houses of the Diet held a meeting on this issue on September 14 during an adjournment of the Diet.

At the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee session, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Inoue Satoshi denounced a committee member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for claiming that Japan should have the capability of carrying out a preemptive attack on military bases in North Korea to counter the threat posed by the country.

Noting that North Korea has been employing tactics of threatening neighboring countries with missiles and nuclear weapons to maintain its current regime, Inoue stressed, “We must avoid getting caught in a vicious cycle of military retaliation at any cost.”

Meanwhile, at the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee session, JCP parliamentarian Kasai Akira questioned the government how many nations so far filed a report of sanctions they imposed on North Korea after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2270 in March calling for stricter sanctions against North Korea. A Foreign Ministry official replied that only 49 of all 193 UN member states did so.

Kasai demanded that as the only A-bombed nation in the world, the Japanese government take the political and diplomatic initiative to resolve this issue.

Following the deliberations, each Diet committee unanimously adopted a resolution protesting against North Korea’s nuclear weapons test.