The UN Human Rights Council held a dialogue on Friday to examine the nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands, which representatives from the Pacific nation said has left their people with some of the highest rates of cancer globally.
“Frightening” is how a presumed nuclear test in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, has been described by the head of the CTBTO, the UN agency tasked with banning the testing of all atomic explosions.
According to media reports, the test was the fifth and largest ever conducted by the country.
A hydrogen bomb test carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has drawn strong condemnation from the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the move a “grave contravention” of international norms against nuclear testing and “profoundly destabilising” for regional security.
Dianne Penn reports.
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A landmark deal to strictly curb Iran’s nuclear programme can be built upon to ensure universal ratification of a global treaty to ban all nuclear tests.
That’s according to Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO.
Iran signed an international accord in July to significantly limit the country’s nuclear ability for more than a decade.
Mr Zerbo said the nearly 20-year old test ban treaty is being held “hostage” by eight specific nations with nuclear technology that must join it before it can take effect.
