Japan will unveil an 11-point initiative on Monday to achieve a nuclear-free world, including a call for a legally binding framework to check North Korea's ballistic missile development and a plan to hold an international conference in Japan early next year on global nuclear disarmament.
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone will "strongly urge" China and other nuclear powers to reduce nuclear weapons in a speech titled, "Conditions Toward Zero: 11 Benchmarks for Global Nuclear Disarmament," a Foreign Ministry official said in a briefing to reporters on Friday.
Nakasone will make the call ahead of Prime Minister Taro Aso's two-day visit to China from Wednesday.
The speech will come after US President Barack Obama on April 5 laid out an ambitious vision for a world without nuclear weapons, saying the United States has "a moral responsibility to act" as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon.
Nakasone will welcome Obama's plan to host a global summit within one year on preventing nuclear terrorism, while expressing Japan's willingness to cooperate with Obama on his initiative, the official said.
Nakasone will call for a legally binding multilateral framework on regulating missile development by North Korea, saying Pyongyang's ballistic missile development is a "source of distrust and tension in Northeast Asia and the world," the official said.
The foreign minister will also urge Pyongyang to pursue denuclearisation steps as agreed in a six-party deal.