Okinawa, Nagasaki governors reject Japan PM's push to revise non-nuclear principles

Japan's Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said Monday that the people of Japan will absolutely not accept a revision of Three Non-Nuclear Principles or any move that runs counter to efforts toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, local media reported.

In response to reports that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering revising the long-standing Three Non-Nuclear Principles, Tamaki pointed out that Japan is the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, the people will say no to that move.

"Understanding the people's desire to abolish nuclear weapons is the prime minister's responsibility," Tamaki said, adding that he hoped the government would give this full consideration.

Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi also voiced his opposition at a press conference on the same day, stressing that for a place that had suffered atomic bombings, Takaichi's mulling over a review of the principles is completely unacceptable.

The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which include not possessing, not producing and not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first declared in the Diet, Japan's parliament, by the then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 and viewed as a national credo.