A prominent Japanese hibakusha atomic bomb survivor expressed regret Sunday over the Japanese government's decision not to attend as an observer the upcoming third meeting of signatories to a nuclear ban treaty.

"The only thing I can say is 'it's regrettable,'" Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, said in a speech at a meeting held in the city of Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo.

"Were we still not capable of (making the government change its mind)?" he said.