Japan PM to announce new U.N. fund to encourage people to visit atomic bombing sites

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, July 31, 2022

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to announce the creation of a $10 million (¥1.33 billion) U.N. fund to encourage young people around the world to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, according to sources.

Kishida will detail the plan Monday during a speech at a review conference of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the sources said.

He will also express his desire for early enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and host summit-level talks in September geared toward that purpose.

Kishida is scheduled to attend the conference during a three-day trip to the United States from Sunday, becoming the first Japanese prime minister to do so. As part of an English-language speech, Kishida will call on nuclear powers to improve the transparency of their nuclear arsenals and urge the United States and China to hold dialogue toward reducing and controlling nuclear weapons, according to the sources.