More than 120 nations adopt first treaty banning nuclear weapons
More than 120 countries have approved the first-ever treaty banning nuclear weapons at a United Nations meeting boycotted by all nuclear-armed nations.
Friday’s vote was 122 countries in favor with the Netherlands opposed and Singapore abstaining.
Elayne Whyte Gomez is president of the U.N. conference that negotiated the legally binding treaty. She said it was the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to be concluded in more than 20 years.
Whyte Gomez said, “the world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70 years,” since the use of the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II.
ALSO
Trump’s comments on nuclear weapons rattle U.S. officials and foreign leaders
Nuclear experts to Trump: More than tweets are needed to stop North Korea
Editorial: North Korea’s missile test was ominous, but a military response could be disastrous
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
