Fifty-nine years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is a disturbing sense that the world could be headed for more, not less, nuclear weapons. As the world's first and only atom-bombed nation, Japan is destined to do everything in its power to strive for the nonproliferation and eventual elimination of these weapons of mass destruction, or WMD.
The fact is that the danger of nuclear proliferation has increased over the past decade. North Korea claims that it already has a few bombs, and multilateral diplomatic efforts for scrapping its nuclear program have made little substantial progress. Some analysts abroad warn that if Pyongyang's possession of nuclear arms capability is confirmed, Japan may well decide to go nuclear.
The Cold War -- which had pushed the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust -- ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But events since provide a chilling reminder that the post-Cold War world is not any safer. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States appear to have further dimmed the prospects for total elimination of nuclear weapons.