A group of Japanese high school students seeking nuclear disarmament will send letters of encouragement to 122 countries and regions that have signed or ratified a U.N. treaty banning such weapons set to enter into force this month, it said Friday.

In a press conference in Nagasaki, the student peace ambassadors said the letters, written in both Japanese and English, express high expectations of their efforts toward nuclear abolishment.

Japanese student peace ambassadors hold letters that will be sent to countries and regions supporting the U.N. nuke ban treaty in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 8, 2021. (Kyodo)

The letters also aim to persuade those that have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to take immediate action to ratify the pact.

The group said they will be sent to the embassies of the countries or through other channels before the treaty takes effect on Jan. 22.

In October, the United Nations said that 50 countries have ratified the treaty, reaching the threshold required for it to enter into force. However, nuclear weapon states, such as the United States, Russia and China, are not part of it.

Japan, the only country to have suffered the devastation of atomic bombings, has decided not to sign the treaty in consideration of its security alliance with the United States.

In an effort to build support for the pact, the student group, which began its peace efforts in 1998, will also send letters to lawmakers, governors and mayors in Japan.

The treaty, which was adopted in 2017, will become the first international pact outlawing the development, testing, possession and use of nuclear weapons.


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