As Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump signed an “agreement” in Singapore today, ICAN welcomes the diplomatic efforts but warns that only a process based in international law and existing treaty frameworks will achieve nuclear disarmament and fully denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
ICAN’s Executive Director Beatrice Fihn said, “Trump just pulled off the photo-op of a lifetime. Rather than signing an unsubstantial agreement, Trump and Kim should be signing a real document based on international law, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Treaty doesn’t tweet, it doesn’t change its mind on the plane home, and can’t have it’s ego bruised. It’s the only comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible way to achieve meaningful nuclear disarmament.”
At a press conference in Singapore yesterday, ICAN presented a concrete plan for removing nuclear weapons and threats of their use in the region. The Korean Peninsula Denuclearisation Framework outlines five steps to denuclearise North and South Korea.
The plan calls on the countries to recognize the unacceptable humanitarian risk of nuclear weapons; reject nuclear weapons by joining the TPNW; remove existing weapons with verifiable and time-bound plans; ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); and rejoin the world community through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Speaking at the Capella Hotel, the site of the Summit, Akira Kawasaki of the ICAN International Steering Group responded to the agreement saying, “The commitment by the US and DPRK to establish new relations and build lasting and stable peace on the Korean Peninsula is positive and a testament to the skillful diplomacy of President Moon of South Korea.”
He added, “Any peace with nuclear weapons will not be sustainable. Real peace is only achieved by eliminating nuclear weapons, prohibited weapons of mass destruction. We already have international treaties to achieve it. We’ll continue to urge all parties to join the TPNW. ICAN’s five-step proposal should serve as a guide in the process to come.”
