SPJC statement on nuclear weapons test by North Korea

The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition joins the global condemnation of the attempted nuclear weapons test by the North Korean government and calls on the United Nations Security Council to take united and firm action to persuade the North Korean government to abandon this dangerous path in its international relations.

Nuclear weapons are a weapon of mass murder and terror and therefore a danger to all humanity and in no way provide protection or security for any nation.

The SPJC recognises that the North Korean government feels under severe threat from the Bush administration. Therefore the SPJC urges the UN Security Council to work energetically to remove this perception of a threat of attack as part of a North Asian and Asia-Pacific regional effort to secure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a nuclear-free Asia-Pacific region.

The Korean nuclear weapons test and the UN Security Council response will also influence the efforts of the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapons capacity. The SPJC therefore urges the UN Security Council to make it clear that the international community opposes any efforts by the Iranian government to develop a nuclear arms capacity.

Both the Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, and the Indian and Pakistani nuclear arsenals, show that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is now severely undermined, and the major nuclear powers on the Security Council bear the main responsibility for this, by rejecting any implementation of the Treaty's clauses requiring a total nuclear disarmament. The Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition calls for a new UN Conference on the NNPT to ensure that it is properly implemented.

The SPJC calls on the Howard government to wholeheartedly support the United Nations framework for coping with security crises and to oppose unilateral actions.

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Last Modified: Thursday, 16-Nov-2006 21:19:47 EST
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