Joint Statement of 102 Peace Activists

Now Is the Time for Dialogue on Denuclearization and Not Military Action That Will Escalate the Crisis on the Korean Peninsula

We, undersigned peace-loving people around the world, are deeply concerned about the current escalating tension in Northeast Asia and urge governments to have peaceful dialogues among each other rather than taking military actions.

The state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is more volatile than ever, now that President Park has been impeached and new government is to be constituted through an early presidential election in South Korea. The Trump administration, in the meantime, is fueling the escalating tension even further with messages that it will not rule out a preemptive strike on North Korea, and that it will redeploy strategic nuclear warheads to South Korea if necessary. The situation is further destabilized by the Trump administration’s decision to send an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean Peninsula. The latest military stance and strategy of Washington, however, completely overlooks the desire of Koreans for peace. The Kim Jong-un government in Pyongyang meanwhile has warned of another upcoming nuclear test it intends to conduct, poised as it is to show off its growing nuclear capabilities. An existing crisis is already escalating in Northeast Asia over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that the South Korean and U.S. governments have decided to deploy in South Korea. All these acts of military bravado, taking hostage the lives and peace of Koreans, must cease now. It is time for policymakers to be responsible and return to dialogue and negotiations and stop fueling the growing tensions.

Therefore, we exhort the US administration and political leaders of North and South Korea. 

Withdraw the decision to deploy the THAAD system, part of the U.S.-South Korea-Japan Missile Defense system, in South Korea.
The South Korean and U.S. governments have decided heavy-handedly, without the consent of the Korean legislatures and despite strong public objections, to deploy the THAAD system to Seongju, South Korea. The two governments claim that such a decision is necessary to protect South Koreans against possible nuclear strikes by North Korea, but the claim is backed by little realistic evidence. South Korea is too close to North Korea for THAAD to be effective. The North only needs low-altitude missiles, to hit and destroy the South in a matter of a few minutes, and these missiles could not be intercepted by THAAD. Moreover, the THAAD system has never been proven effective in actual battle. The deployment of THAAD by the U.S. Army in South Korea represents the South Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance against China and effectively symbolizes South Korea siding with the Americans over the Chinese. The presence of such an openly hostile missile defense system gravely disrupts the prospects for peace in Northeast Asia. Beijing and Moscow have already warned that they would take “corresponding measures” in response to the deployment, with the Chinese government and businesses now engaged in unofficial but retaliatory economic sanctions against South Korea. The growing instability and arms race in Northeast Asia will only undermine international efforts for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

What we need now is to resume dialogue towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a genuine end to the Korean War.

Pyongyang must desist from further testing of its missiles and nuclear capabilities. We cannot support the development of weapons that directly contradict international efforts for nuclear disarmament and that hold the lives and safety of innocent people hostage. It is critical to resume dialogue and negotiations to root out the nuclear threats to the entire region and to achieve the much-needed transition from the Armistice’s ceasefire to a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. In doing so, we ought to admit the failure of the past sanction- and neglect-centered policies that insisted, unrealistically, that the government in Pyongyang either renounce its nuclear program prior to negotiations or collapse. With the end of nuclear diplomacy, the Kim government did nothing but augment its nuclear and missile capabilities, complicating the situation still further. We realize that countless military drills and the acquisition of cutting-edge weapon systems no longer guarantee peace and security. The perpetual political tension and military hostility can end only through dialogue and negotiation. Honest talks hold the only wise solution to the current predicament.

The Korean Peninsula can no longer afford to exist as a powder keg waiting to be ignited by the chronic military tensions and the constant arms race. This is among the first and foremost place where international efforts to tackle the nuclear problem and overcome the old Cold War legacy should begin. We need to start making serious efforts for peace, not only for the two Koreas, but also for Northeast Asia and the world at large. We urge the Trump administration, the Kim government, and the newly elected President of South Korea to listen to the desire of people worldwide for peace and resist the temptation to ratchet up military tensions on the Korean Peninsula for political gain.

May 16th, 2017

Akiko Yoshizawa(The Association for military base free peaceful Okinawa in Japan, Co-chair), Akira Asada(Sinsyu University, Professor Emeritus), Alfred L. Marder(US Peace Council, President), Alice Slater(Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York Representative), Ann Wright(Veterans for Peace, Colonel), Arnie Saiki(Moana Nui Alliance, Coordinator), Ayumi Temlock(Member of New Jersey Peace Action), Bruce K. Gagnon(Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Coordinator), Bruce Kent(Pax Christi UK, Vice President), Changsoon Chang(Musician), Chiaki Lee(The citizens of Matsue in Japan), Christine Ahn(Women Cross DMZ, International Coordinator), Colin Archer(International Peace Bureau, Retired Secretary-General), Corazon Valdez Fabros(International Peace Bureau, Co-Vice President), Daisuke Yamaguchi(Peace Depot Japan, Researcher), David McReynolds(War Resisters International, Former Chair), David Otieno(The Global Campaign on Military Spending Africa, Convener), David Swanson(World Beyond War, Director), David Webb(Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Chair), Dieter Deiseroth(IALANA Germany, Member of the Academic Council), Ellen-Rae Cachola(Women's Voices Women Speak, Organizer), Harumi Ishino(Osaka International University, Professor Emeritus), Hiroki Tanaka(Blue Legion), Hiroko Suzuki(Montreal Save Article 9), Hiromichi Umebayashi(Peace Depot Inc, Special Advisor), Hitomi Taniguch(Anti-War Committee of Yawata), Ichiro Yuasa(Peace-Depot, Vice-President), IWAKAWA Yasuhisa(Interpreter/translator), Iwase Hiroko, J. Enkhsaikhan(Blue Banner, Chairman), Jacqueline Cabasso(Western States Legal Foundation, Executive Director), Janis Alton(Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Co-Chair), Jim Albertini(Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action), Julia Matsui Estrella(Pacific Asian Center for Theologies and Strategies(PACTS)), Juliane Drechsel-Grau(IALANA Germany, Board Member), Jun Tisaka(Japan Peace Committee, Secretary General), Kataoka Akira(Peace Committee of Kyoto, Chair of the board), Kawasaki Akira(Peace Boat, Executive Committee Member), Kazuhiro Furuoya, Kazuyuki Yamada(The Wind from Yonaguni Island), Kenji Ago(Seinan Gakuin University / Japanese and Korean Citizens’ Peace Solidarity against Nukes, Professor Emeritus), Kevin Zeese(Popular Resistance, Co-Director), Kip Goodwin(Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social Justice, Communications Director), Kitamura Megumi(Hiroshima religious peace council affiliation), Kiyoko Takahashi(Article9 Association group in Hadano/Peace Depot), Koji Sugihara(Network Against Japan Arms Trade, representative), Koohan Paik(International Forum on Globalization, Asia-Pacific Program Director), Kouitirou Toyosima, Kristine Karch(International Network No to War - No to NATO, Co-Chair), Kuni Nagatomo(Japanese Constitution Article９), Kyle Kajihiro(Hawai'i Peace and Justice, Board member), Leah Bolger(World Beyond War, Chair Coordinating Committee), Lucas Wirl(International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms(IALANA) Germany, Executive Director), Lynette Cruz(Hui Aloha Aina o Ka Lei Maile Alii, President), Maki Sasaki, Makoto Yanagida(No-Nukes Plaza Tanpopo-sya, Co-Representative), Margaret Flowers(Popular Resistance, Co-Director), Masako Watanabe, Masami Ono(Retired Teachers), Meri Joyce(Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, (GPPAC), Northeast Asia Regional Liaison Officer), Michael Pulham(Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), Michie Ichihara(Gallery of Life, President), Mitsumasa Ohta(Wind of Citizens toward Uniting for Peace), Monique Salhab(Veterans For Peace, Secretary, National Board of Directors), Muto, Ichiyo(People’s Plan Study Group), Nagase Riei(Board Member, Board Member), Nami Morita(KAFTI, Director), Naomi Klein(Author), Noam Chomsky(MIT, Retired Instituted Professor), Nomura Osami, Noriko Kuju(Peace-Life-Ignatio-A9), Otto Jaeckel(IALANA Germany, Chair), Patricia Pulham(Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), Pete Shimazaki Doktor(Hawai`i Okinawa Alliance, Co-Founder), Peter Becker(International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), Co-President), Phyllis Creighton(Hiroshima/Nagasaki Day Coalition, Board member), Reiner Braun(International Peace Bureau, Co-President), Ronald Fujiyoshi(Ohana Ho`opakele, Treasurer), Sachiko Mikami, Sato Daisuke(No Nukes Asia Forum Japan, General Secretary), Shigehiro Terajima (Labornet-TV), Shigeru Nakamura(Article9 Association group in Hadano), Shimazu Rumi(The One Thousand Against War Committee), Shin Chiba(International Christian University, Professor), Shizue Tomoda, Suda Minoru(Ritsumeikan University, Professor Emeritus), Sukla Sen(EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Activist), Sumi Hasegawa(McGill University, Retired Faculty), Taikei Kokubu(Shinshuu Ōtani-ha Ansenji Priesthood, Shinshuu Ōtani-ha), Takeda Takao(NIPPONZANMYOHOJI), Tarak Kauff(Veterans for Peace, Board of Directors), Taro Abe(Nagoya Gakuin University, Professor), Tutihashi Ryoko, Wataru Mikami, Will Griffin(The Peace Report), Wolfgang Alban(IALANA Germany, Board Member), Yasunari Fujimoto(Forum for Peace, Human Rights and Environment (Peace Forum), Co-President), Yasuo Takagi, Yayoi Tsuchida(Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), Assistant General Secretary), Yoshinobu Toyoda, Yoshioka Tatsuya(Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Northeast Asia Regional Representative), Yoshiyuki Ishino(Anti-War Committee of Yawata Kyoto)

Solidarity Message to <Anti-War Coalition In Solidarity to Protect Article 9>

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD) has opposed the amendment of peace constitution and rearmament of Japan by Abe administration. We are very concerned about national security bills in a bid to be passed at the National Diet of Japan.

Japan must be prevented from exercising the right of collective self-defense. This will nullify the Japanese peace constitution, particularly article 9, which has served as an anchor of peace in East Asia.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. The memories of the atrocious Japanese colonial rule and aggression in the past in many of its neighboring countries cannot be simply erased.

Japan must stop military buildup and preserve its peace constitution.

We will continue to stand in solidarity with those who are concerned about and marching for peace across Asia-pacific.

Peace & Solidarity

Peace and Disarmament Center, PSPD

South Korea: Reopen Kaesong Industrial Complex Immediately

(Seoul, 11 February 2016) On 10 February 2016, the South Korean government announced the closure of Kaesong Industrial Complex, citing North Korea’s 4th nuclear test and launching of a long-range rocket as reasons. However, South Korean civil society organisations emphasise that closure of Kaesong Industrial Complex is an absolutely improper measure. We call on the South Korean government to immediately reopen Kaesong Industrial Complex. It is not a time to immediately end relations with North Korea. Instead, we must find wise solutions to escape this cold period. 

We note with concern that the closure of Kaesong Industrial Complex goes completely against the 2013 agreement between the two Koreas in which they each committed to continue operations at Kaesong Industrial Complex regardless of the political situation. This recent unilateral decision by the South Korean government is also a violation of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries, which is a de facto international treaty. 

The South Korean government argues that approximately 120 billion KRW (around 120 million USD) in wages paid to workers at Kaesong Industrial Complex has been used in development of nuclear weapons and missiles. This accusation has no grounds because most wages paid to North Korean workers are in the form of social and cultural policy funds and gift cards. 

We deplore the South Korean government actions, which ignore the lives of the North Korean workers and difficulties faced by South Korean companies, around 120 of whom face bankruptcy as a result of the closure. While the South Korean government is discussing an alternative site for a factory and financial support, nothing can replace Kaesong Industrial Complex to companies. At the same time, the approximately 54,000 North Korean workers and their families are now at the edge of a precipice. They are not at all related to North Korea’s nuclear testing or long-range rocket launch. 

It is obvious that additional sanctions will not resolve North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, as the past 20 years of sanctions against it have not been successful. It is clear that establishing a peace system and denuclearisation is the only effective solution, not simply repeating already-failed policies of sanctions. The South Korean government must reopen Kaesong Industrial Complex immediately.  /END/

Endorsed by below 69 civil society organisations and networks: 
Busan Counseling Center Against Sexual Violence, Busan Women's Association United, Cheonan Women's Association, Chungbuk Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Chungnam Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Citizens Coalition for Democratic Media, Civil Peace Forum, Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Cultural Action, Daegu Citizens Union for Peaceful Reunification, Daegu Gyeongbuk Women's Association United, Daegu Women's Association, Daejeon Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Daejeon Women's Association for Democracy, Daejeon Women's Association United, Eco Horizon Institute, Eco Justice, Goyang Peace Nuri, Green Korea United, Green Transport Movement, Gwangju Jeonnam Women's Association United, Gyeonggi Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Gyeonggi Women's Association United, Gyeongnam Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Gyeongnam Women's Association, Gyeongnam Women's Association United, Housewives Association, Jeju Women's Association, Jeju Women's Human Rights Solidairty, Jeonbuk Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Jeonbuk Women's Association United, Jeonnam Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, Korea Association of Christian Women for Women Minjung, Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, Korea Single Parent United, Korea Women's Hot Line, Korea Women's Political Solidarity, Korea Women's Studies Institute, Korea YMCA, Korea Youth Corps, Korean Association of Women Theologians, Korean Catholic Women's Community for a New World, Korean Differently Abled Women United, Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, Korean Sharing Movement, Korean Women Workers Association, Korean Women's Association United, Korean Women's Environmental Network, National Solidarity for Solving Prostitution Issues, Network for Gender Sensitive Budget, Peace Ground, Peace Network, Peace3000, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Pohang Women's Association, Pusan Women Education Center, Research Institute of the Differently Abled Person's Rights in Korea, Reunification Tree, Saewoomtuh, Suwon Women's Association, The National Association of Parents for Cham Education, Tongilmaji, Transparency International Korea, Ulsan Women's Association, Women Education Center, Women Making Peace, Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea, WomenLink, Young Korean Academy
 

Global Day of  Action on Military Spending (GDAMS)
How long  should South Korea stay as an international loser?

With the lowest welfare spending and highest suicide rate among OECD members, 
South Korea was ranked as the world's No. 10 military spender this year and No. 1 arms importer in 2014.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has released the 2015 annual world military expenditure figures today (4 May). There is a country which has been once again ranked as the world No. 10. It is, while being the tenth biggest global military spender, also recorded as the lowest welfare spender with the highest suicide rate among the 28 OECD countries. That nation is South Korea. The South Korean government has been spending 15% of its budget on military expenditure, which is 2.5 times bigger than the OECD average. The South Korean government has been pouring in 6 billion dollars over its acquisition of 40 F-35 fighter jets, the center of controversies over cost and technical problems. This is the reality of our nation, 'Hell Chosun', an infernal feudal kingdom.

Korea, breaking its usual record of world's top 10 arms importer became the world's biggest arms importer. The annual CRS (Congressional Research Service) report on Arms Transfers, published in December 2015, shows that the South Korean government bought arms and defense equipment worth 7.8 billion dollars in 2014, making it the number 1 weaponry importer in the world. About $7 billion of South Korea's contracts were made with the United States. Now South Korea has become the most lucrative client of the world's largest defense company, Lockheed Martin. This has been attributed to the South Korean government's decision to buy the fighters whose capabilities haven't yet been verified, even after the US refusal to allow core technologies' transfer to South Korea. Also, there's more good news for Lockheed Martin, which is that the US has reportedly agreed to deploy THAAD to South Korea.

Is the huge military expenditure justified? The nation, with an annual defence budget of $9.6 billion, has so far been discovered to have spent $876 million in defence industry corruption by a joint investigative team which was launched in 2014. According to the joint investigative team, there has been a continuous flow of bribes, the falsifying of public documents, shady arms acquisition processes etc. throughout the Army, Air force, and Navy. The 2014 National Defence Annual Reports says that within 10 years defence spending doubled from $4 billion to $8 billion. Anyone can guess that this figure is not healthy at all. 

Then have our 630 thousand soldiers been benefiting from this military spending? The biggest item in South Korea's military budget is labour costs, most of which has been spent on commissioned officers. Only 9% of the military labour cost budget has been allocated to enlisted soldiers, who make up 70% of the entire military force, while the commissioned officers, who only make up 11% of the military force, take 42% of the entire labour costs. The enlisted soldiers are on less than one seventh of the nation minimum income. Is this treatment fair and just?

Some may say that "we can't possibly reduce military spending while facing the North Korean threat". The fact that South Korea's military power is far superior to that of North Korea has already been acknowledged by the government. South Korea has been spending on its military budget an amount almost equivalent to North Korea's national GDP, without even factoring in expenditure on American army bases in South Korea. Unable to match that amount, North Korea may have had to focus on weapons of mass-destruction. The key to solving the inter-Korean tension is trust-building, not military spending increases. The recent news on North Korea's 4th nuclear test caused many South Korean politicians to propose developing our own nuclear weapons. Without stopping this vicious competition of military spending and force increases on the Korean peninsula,  the necessary dialogue cannot be initiated, hence peace will remain unreachable.

The world of arms, of which American President Eisenhower once said "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." still persists now. This year the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will issue an estimated $20.1 billion needed to provide humanitarian assistance to countries around the globe, including Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. We need to remind ourselves that last year alone the world spent $1.8 trillion on defence. Just 1% of the total international military spend would make so much difference if it were to be spent on humanitarian purposes and the eradication of poverty. 

More military spending will never bring in peace and safety to the world, but rather causes neighboring countries to increase their own military funding, therefore ending up enriching arms companies. Now is the time for us to rethink our priorities. The change we are hoping for will be brought forward by those who cry out "tax money for our lives, not for weapons" and the national assembly, which reviews and votes for bills based on our nation's voice. The 20th national assembly will have to allocate taxes to help its citizens facing hardship from cradle to grave. On the 5th of April  2016, celebrating the 6th Global Day of  Action on Military Spending, we propose to enter into such a paradigm shift in our escape from 'Hell Chosun'.

April 5, 2016

The GDAMS Preparatory Committee of Korea

For more information

The GDAMS website http://demilitarize.org

The GDAMS Korea website http://gdams.or.kr
The GDAMS Preparatory Committee of Seoul
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy +82-2-723-4250, [email protected]

번역 : 윤현희 (참여연대 평화군축센터 자원활동가)

This letter, signed by civil society organizations around the world including PSPD, was released on March 25, 2016, in time for the Security Summit to be held in Washington DC on March 31-April 1.

To: Mr. Shinzo Abe
    Prime Minister of Japan

 

March 25, 2016

Subject: Call to help strengthen worldwide nuclear security by stopping plutonium separation

 

We, the undersigned, call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Government of Japan to make a strong contribution to the Nuclear Security Summit by announcing the indefinite postponement of the operation of the Rokkasho spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

 

At the third Nuclear Security Summit held in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 2014 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barak Obama announced their agreement to:
“remove and dispose of all highly-enriched uranium (HEU) and separated plutonium from the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in Japan.”
They declared that:
“this effort involves the elimination of hundreds of kilograms of nuclear material, furthering our mutual goal of minimizing stocks of HEU and separated plutonium worldwide, which will help prevent unauthorized actors, criminals, or terrorists from acquiring such materials.”

331 kilograms of plutonium from FCA are to be brought to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savanna River Site in South Carolina. According to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), which operates the FCA, most of the plutonium (236 kg) is originally from the United Kingdom with 93 kg from the U.S. and the rest (2 kg) from France.

While asking the people of South Carolina to accept this material to protect the world from the possibility of theft from the JAEA’s lightly guarded Tokai-mura site, Japan is planning to begin to operate in 2018 its equally insecure Rokkasho Reprocessing plant, which is designed to separate annually up to 8,000 kilograms of plutonium from Japan’s spent nuclear fuel. The plant is currently the only reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapon state.

According to the US National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Global Threat Reduction Initiative “Removal Program Overview” (December 3, 2014) the 331 kg of plutonium at FCA satisfies the program’s requirements for material to be sent to the United States for disposition, that:
“it must also pose a threat to national security, be susceptible to use in an improvised nuclear device, present a high risk of terrorist threat and have no other reasonable pathway to assure security from theft or diversion.”

While NNSA has been working hard to reduce this danger, it says threats still remain and calls for attention to the world-wide civilian separated plutonium problem emphasizing that:
“Global civilian plutonium inventories have risen sharply over the last 20 years” and that “Further international engagement is needed to stop plutonium accumulation and start drawing down inventories.”

After the 61st Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, “Nagasaki’s Voice: Remember Your Humanity” (1-5 November 2015, Nagasaki, Japan) the Pugwash Council, sharing the same concern, declared:  
“Reprocessing to separate plutonium should end in all countries, including all nuclear weapon countries, whether for energy or weapon purposes…In view of the international security consequences of fuel cycle decisions, countries need to mutually agree to restrictions on their national sovereignty in making nuclear fuel cycle decisions.”

As of the end of 2014 Japan had 47,800 kilograms of separated plutonium: 10,800 kg in Japan, 20,700 kg in UK, and 16,300 kg in France. According to the International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM) the amount of civilian separated plutonium worldwide as of the end of 2014 is about 270,000 kg. Three nuclear weapons states, France, the U.K., and Russia, and Japan account for most of this separated plutonium. The United States is faced with a difficulty trying to dispose of about 50,000 kg of surplus weapons plutonium. Further accumulation of nuclear-weapon-usable material is a concern for the international society and for Japan’s neighbors, who wonder why Japan is separating such huge quantities of directly weapon-useable material. Separated plutonium is a security risk. If other countries followed Japan’s example, it would increase proliferation risks. In fact, South Korea has been demanding that the United States acknowledge that the ROK has the same right as Japan to separate plutonium.

When Prime Minister Abe and President Obama announced the plan to transfer 331kg of plutonium to the U.S., they went on to:
“encourage others to consider what they can do to further HEU and plutonium minimization.”
At that time, in March 2014, operations at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant were to begin just around the time of the coming Nuclear Security Summit. This would have been a very ironic timing. The date subsequently was postponed to 2018, due to the inability of the plant’s operator to satisfy the new safety rules set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority created after the Fukushima accident. Some might be secretly hoping that this might effectively lower the profile of Japan’s plutonium separation program at a time when Japan’s Government hopes that the U.S. will agree to automatically extend, in 2018, their Agreement of Cooperation on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, which includes the U.S. acceptance of Japan’s right to separate plutonium from spent fuel irradiated in U.S. designed nuclear power plants.

We call on Japan to announce, at the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington DC. March 31-April 1 2016, an indefinite postponement of its plan to start the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in order to further the mutual goal of Japan and the U.S. to minimize global stocks of separated plutonium. That would be a great contribution to the worldwide effort to strengthen nuclear security.

 

>>> To read this letter in Korean