(August 4, 1999, The Chugoku Shimbun)

On August 3rd, in an interview of The Chugoku Shimbun, Masahiko Komura a Foreign Minister spoke about the key recommendations from the "Tokyo Forum for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament". "I highly regard the recommendations, because they are in the same direction as the Japanese government. We want to make most of this report in order to establish a society free of nuclear weapons." Komura gave his pledge, as a leader, to work for the advancement of nuclear disarmament.

The report of the Tokyo Forum consists of 17 key recommendations, including the recommendation for the United States and Russia to further extend reductions to 1,000 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.

The Foreign Minister commented on the contents of the report, "The report calls for nuclear non-proliferation and at the same time it appeals for nuclear disarmament of the countries with nuclear weapons. It's a masterpiece. The Forum is geared in the same direction as the Japanese government, which submitted the comprehensive (nuclear) test ban resolution." According to Komura, the report was consistent with the government's nuclear disarmament policy.

As a practical step to make good use of the report, Yasushi Akashi, the former director of the Hiroshima Peace Institute, and Nobuo Matsunaga, vice chairman of Japan International Issues Research Center, the co-chairmen of the Tokyo Forum, are planning to hand the report to the UN Secretary General Anan on August 4th. They told us that they will request the Secretary General to treat the report as an official UN paper, and distribute the report to its member countries. "In order to circulate the report to the leaders of the countries, we want to appeal through international organizations and bilateral consultations.", they said with enthusiasm.

In regard to the United States and Russia, who were told to further reduce their nuclear warheads to 1,000 units, the Foreign Minister said, "Instead of just waiting and not knowing what to do, I want to make good use of the key recommendations of the Tokyo Forum, and take the lead in appealing Japan's nuclear disarmament policies to the world." He made clear that he would do his best to work for the firm advancement of START.