US official cites need to warn youth on nuclear danger

MANILA, Philippines - As the world commemorates the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US government has cited the need to educate the youth about the dangers of nuclear weapons.

“We need to ensure that the young understand the horrors of nuclear use,” US Undersecretary of State for arms control and international security Rose Gottemoeller said earlier this week in a telephonic press conference from Tokyo.

Gottemoeller was in Japan to attend the annual Peace Memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to meet with Japanese counterparts.

“We have to do a lot to let the young people understand the need to advance nuclear disarmament and not proliferation,” she said.

Gottemoeller said young people in Japan are interested to know about the historic event, long considered as one of the darkest chapters of human history.

“Young people are mindful of the human consequences involved should the terrible event happen again,” the US official said.

Gottemoeller said the US continues to work to eliminate materials used to create nuclear warheads and to ensure that terrorists will not have access to such weapons.

She said the New START treaty between the US and Russia is “going very well” despite the two countries’ differences over Ukraine. The treaty provides for measures that seek to further reduce and limit strategic offensive arms.

Gottemoeller, however, was mum on whether the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should help in urging North Korea to reduce its nuclear weapons.

“I don’t have a specific comment on that. ASEAN has been good in bringing together parties to work on detailed problems. I’ll leave it at that,” she said.

But Gottemoeller maintained that “intense pressure remains essential to compel North Korea to change course.”

More than 200,000 people perished after the US dropped atomic bombs on the two cities, an event that paved the way for the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II. The Philippines, a former American colony, was among the countries invaded by Japan during the war.