Japanese atomic blasts survivors pessimistic about nuke disarmament progress at G7 summit: Survey

Tokyo, April 29 Some two-thirds of atomic blasts survivors in Japan do not think the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima will reap any tangible progress in nuclear disarmament, according to a new survey.

As Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made a world without nuclear arms a key theme of the rich club's annual meeting, 67.4 per cent of the 521 respondents expressed their low expectations, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday citing the Kyodo News survey.

The poll was sent to around 1,400 people who had suffered and survived nuclear bombings in which the US dropped the world's first atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Altogether 22.2 per cent of the surveyed pointed out that all the participants either possess nuclear weapons or are protected under nuclear agreements.

In a blow to Kishida's aim to serve as a bridge between nuclear and non-nuclear states, only 2.1 per cent of respondents said Japan has been able to fulfil the role.

Behind the lack of confidence is the Japanese government's refusal to participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Kyodo News said.

When asked what they most want to see from the government, 47.4 per cent of respondents answered with Japan's speedy participation in the treaty.

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