U.N. panel adopts Japan-led nuclear weapon abolition resolution

New York – A U.N. General Assembly committee has adopted by majority vote a Japan-led resolution seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.

At the assembly’s First Committee dealing with disarmament, the resolution received support from 150 countries, while seven, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, voted against it. Twenty-five nations, including the United States and France, abstained.

This is the 33rd straight year for the assembly to approve such a resolution.

The latest resolution refers to a failure to reach a consensus at the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which ended in May.

It then calls on the nuclear-weapon states to “fully implement their obligations” to be engaged in disarmament negotiations.

North Korea “cannot be recognized as a nuclear-weapon state,” the resolution said, urging the country to return to and fully comply with the NPT and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards at an early date.

Regarding the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the resolution only said that it was adopted in 2017 and entered into force in 2021. For the treaty, the first review conference is scheduled for November this year.

The resolution is expected to be officially adopted at the General Assembly’s plenary meeting in early December.