UN Security Council divided over nuclear ban treaty

January 19, 2018

UNSC divided on nuclear ban treaty

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180119_24/

Members of the United Nations Security Council have taken a unified stance on North Korea's nuclear program, but remain divided over a treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The members held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended, as did ministers from Russia and Britain.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley called North Korea one of the biggest threats to the world.

The members agreed that the North poses a serious threat to the nuclear non-proliferation framework.

But they were unable to find common ground on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted at the UN general assembly last year.
None of the countries with nuclear weapons have joined.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be dangerous for these nations to give up their weapons without considering national interests and strategies.

The British state minister for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, criticized the treaty for providing no solution to the extremely complex security environment or nuclear disarmament issues.

Ambassadors of some of the signatory countries, including Peru and Cote d'Ivoire, said the treaty should be a global standard.

They also called on nuclear nations to create a security framework that doesn't rely on nuclear weapons.