UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES — With the North Korean nuclear crisis looming large, 51 countries on Wednesday lined up to sign a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons that has been fiercely opposed by the United States and other nuclear powers.

The treaty was adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations in July following negotiations led by Austria, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand.

None of the nine countries that have nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — took part in the talks. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) condemned the treaty, saying that it may in fact be counter-productive by creating divisions.

As leaders formally signed on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed as historic the first multilateral disarmament treaty in more than two decades.

But Mr. Guterres acknowledged that much work was needed to rid the world of its stockpile of 15,000 atomic warheads, saying: “Now we must continue along the hard road towards the elimination of nuclear arsenals.”

The treaty will enter into force when 50 countries will have signed and ratified it.

“At a time when the world needs to remain united in the face of growing threats, in particular the grave threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program, the treaty fails to take into account these urgent security challenges,” the 29-nation NATO alliance said.

Brazil President Michel Temer was the first to sign the pact. Others included South African President Jacob Zuma and representatives of Indonesia, Ireland and Malaysia as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Vatican.

Japan, the only nation to have suffered atomic attack, an advocate of abolishing nuclear weapons and a top target of North Korea, boycotted the talks. — AFP

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