Ban sees increased political will for nuclear disarmament

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he perceives "an increased political will for disarmament," demanding the international community to seize the momentum and take decisive action to ban nuclear testing worldwide.

The May 25 underground nuclear test by North Korea was "in clear violation of Security Council resolutions," Ban said in a video message to a meeting in Vienna of International Scientific Studies Conference, which is working on the verification aspects of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Calling North Korea's recent test a "direct challenge to international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts," Ban said that the situation "underscores the urgency of ensuring the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty," which outlaws all nuclear explosions and establishes a verification regime to monitor compliance.

However, Ban added, despite the recent North Korean test and "other recent events, I sense increased political will for disarmament."

Next year's Review Conference of the UN-backed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which forms the foundation of the world's nuclear non-proliferation regime, "is an important step on gauging our ability and readiness to detect nuclear explosions worldwide," he said.