Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010

Diet members send Obama nuclear letter

By MASAMI ITO

Staff writer

A group of nonpartisan Diet members sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday him to strive to limit the role of America's atomic weapons to that of nuclear deterrence.

The request doesn't call for a total ban on the use of nuclear weapons but is intended to be a small but realistic step toward nuclear disarmament.

The letter asked Obama to state that the role of nuclear weapons should be limited to deterrence and asked that the U.S. nuclear policy not violate Japan's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into the country.

With the Obama administration expected to submit the Nuclear Posture Review to Congress in March and the upcoming nuclear security summit in April, the lawmakers expressed hope that the letter may influence the nuclear policy of the U.S.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100220a3.html