SAITAMA — Ongoing discussions and a more muscular nuclear nonproliferation treaty are vital to achieving progress in disarmament efforts, speakers and participants at a U.N. conference in Saitama agreed Friday.
"It is encouraging to know that work is continuing at all levels" on disarmament issues, including within governments and the academic world, Hannelore Hoppe, director and deputy to the high representative for the U.N. disarmament office, said, adding that the effort must continue and be reflected at the 2010 conference to review the NPT.
The three-day meeting, organized by the U.N. Office of Disarmament Affairs and the U.N. Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, kicked off a day after North Korea announced it had suspended its denuclearization process and threatened to restore a reactor in Yongbyon.