An international conference held while the risk of nuclear weapons being used again becomes greater was unable to reach a consensus on thinking about and acting to prevent such a crisis.

The responsibility of the nuclear powers who ignored their obligation to reduce nuclear arms is extremely huge.

Nations possessing and not having nuclear weapons gathered at U.N. headquarters in New York to review the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

During the four weeks of discussions, an attempt was made to reach a consensus on a declaration that would include guidelines for moving toward arms reduction.

But for the third straight time, no agreement was reached.

Differences emerged between nations that possess nuclear weapons, other nations that sought to protect their safety by depending on that power and nations seeking to move away from such thinking and work on arms reduction.

The end........

© The Asahi Shimbun