Nobel peace laureate group urges Japan to join nuclear arms ban treaty

Beatrice Fihn, executive director of Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of the campaign group that won last year's Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday urged Japan to join a United Nations treaty to prohibit nuclear arms, saying a nuclear deterrence strategy would not bring about peace.

The comment by Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), comes as Japan increasingly counts on the U.S. nuclear umbrella while North Korea continues its missile and nuclear development in defiance of international pressure.