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Nobel peace prize winner voices fears over North Korea Nobel peace prize winner voices fears over North Korea
(about 1 hour later)
The head of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the winner of the 2017 Nobel peace prize, has voiced alarm about the situation in North Korea. Mankind’s destruction caused by a nuclear war is just one “impulsive tantrum away”, the winners of the Nobel peace prize, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), warned on Sunday as the United States and North Korea exchange threats over the nation’s nuclear tests.
“We are seeing right now an extremely dangerous situation that makes a lot of people very uncomfortable,” Beatrice Fihn said shortly before receiving the award in Oslo. “Will it be the end of nuclear weapons, or will it be the end of us?” ICAN head Beatrice Fihn said in a speech after receiving the peace prize on behalf of the anti-nuclear group.
“If you are worried about Donald Trump having nuclear weapons or Kim Jong-un, you’re probably worried about nuclear weapons because you are recognising that deterrents are not always going to work,” she said. “The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where our mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away,” Fihn added. “[Nuclear weapons] are a madman’s gun held permanently to our temple.”
The US and North Korean leaders “are just humans who have the control to end the world. Nobody should have that”. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiralled as Pyongyang has in recent months ramped up its number of missiles and nuclear tests. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump have taunted each other in recent months, with the US President pejoratively dubbing his rival “Little Rocket Man” and a “sick puppy”.
Pyongyang has increased the number of its missile and nuclear tests in recent months, while exchanging bellicose threats with Trump, who has ordered a military show of force. ICAN, a coalition of hundreds of NGOs around the world, has worked for a treaty banning nuclear weapons which was adopted in July by 122 countries. The text was weakened by the absence of the nine nuclear powers among the signatories.
ICAN, a coalition of hundreds of NGOs worldwide, has worked for a treaty banning nuclear weapons, which was adopted in July by 122 countries. In an apparent snub of the ICAN-backed treaty, the three western nuclear powers - the US, France and Britain - broke with tradition by sending second-ranking diplomats rather than their ambassadors to Sunday’s ceremony.
Although historic, the text was weakened by the absence of the nine nuclear powers among the signatories. Only three countries, the Holy See, Guyana and Thailand, have so far ratified the treaty, which requires 50 ratifications to come into force. Several survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, which killed more than 220,000 people 72 years ago, attended the ceremony in Oslo.
In an apparent snub to ICAN and the treaty, the three western nuclear powers – the US, France and Britain – will be represented by second-ranking diplomats rather than by their ambassadors at the Nobel ceremony, which represents a break with tradition. One of them, Setsuko Thurlow, received the Nobel on behalf of ICAN jointly with Fihn.
Several survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, which killed more than 220,000 people 72 years ago, will attend the event. One of them, Setsuko Thurlow, will receive the prize on behalf of ICAN jointly with Fihn.