You Are Here:
- News and events >
- News >
- Peace
Kim Jong-il featured as a card in Greenpeace's "Most Wanted" nuclear solitaire deck, distributed at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in the year 2000.
Enlarge image
CEOs from Greenpeace Australia Pacific, the Medical Association for
the Prevention of War and the Australian Conservation Foundation delivered a joint letter and olive tree to the
Ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Canberra.
The letter condemns North Korea’s underground nuclear test.
The nuclear test underscores the dangerous connection between nuclear research, nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Says Greenpeace CEO, Steve Shallhorn, "By going nuclear, North Korea has highlighted the weakness of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pyongyang has underscored the dangerous connection between nuclear research, nuclear power and nuclear weapons."
Greenpeace calls for a restrained reaction from other countries, such as South Korea, Japan and the United States, and a reconvening of the Six Party talks (the framework for de-escalating and denuclearising tension in North East Asia).
Says Steve Shallhorn, "Nobody wants yet another country to have a nuclear arsenal but, with over 5000 nuclear weapons in the arsenal of the United States of America, the relative balance of power has to be kept in mind. It's bad enough that North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon but it will be worse if other countries don't talk to them."
Seven other nations have demonstrated their nuclear capabilities: US, the Russian Federation, the UK, France, China, India, and Pakistan. Israel is known to have nuclear weapons. And due to the widespread use of nuclear energy, about 40 other countries have access to nuclear weapons material and, so, the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The nuclear club should be getting smaller. And it would be if the nuclear weapons states lived up to their commitments to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But, while the US and other nuclear powers are quick to demand full compliance from non-nuclear weapons states, they've done little to fulfil their part of the bargain: a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament.
A test ban treaty has been negotiated but remains unratified by the US, China and Israel, among others. The number of nuclear weapons in the world today remains on par with the number of weapons which existed when the Non-Proliferation Treaty was negotiated in the 1960s. If the Australian government pushes ahead with plans to export uranium to India, this will further undermine the Non-proliferation Treaty.
The nuclear test underscores the dangerous connection between nuclear research, nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Says Greenpeace CEO, Steve Shallhorn, "By going nuclear, North Korea has highlighted the weakness of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pyongyang has underscored the dangerous connection between nuclear research, nuclear power and nuclear weapons."
Greenpeace calls for a restrained reaction from other countries, such as South Korea, Japan and the United States, and a reconvening of the Six Party talks (the framework for de-escalating and denuclearising tension in North East Asia).
Says Steve Shallhorn, "Nobody wants yet another country to have a nuclear arsenal but, with over 5000 nuclear weapons in the arsenal of the United States of America, the relative balance of power has to be kept in mind. It's bad enough that North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon but it will be worse if other countries don't talk to them."
Joining the club
Seven other nations have demonstrated their nuclear capabilities: US, the Russian Federation, the UK, France, China, India, and Pakistan. Israel is known to have nuclear weapons. And due to the widespread use of nuclear energy, about 40 other countries have access to nuclear weapons material and, so, the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The nuclear club should be getting smaller. And it would be if the nuclear weapons states lived up to their commitments to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But, while the US and other nuclear powers are quick to demand full compliance from non-nuclear weapons states, they've done little to fulfil their part of the bargain: a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament.
A test ban treaty has been negotiated but remains unratified by the US, China and Israel, among others. The number of nuclear weapons in the world today remains on par with the number of weapons which existed when the Non-Proliferation Treaty was negotiated in the 1960s. If the Australian government pushes ahead with plans to export uranium to India, this will further undermine the Non-proliferation Treaty.
Take action
