Japan's Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko has indicated that Japan, along with the United States, plans to sponsor a draft UN Security Council resolution aimed at preventing the deployment of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in space.

Kamikawa chaired a ministerial-level meeting of the security council on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in New York on Monday.

She told the meeting, "Japan firmly believes that outer space must remain a domain free of nuclear weapons." She added that her country also believes that it is a common responsibility to fully comply with existing legal frameworks, including the Outer Space Treaty.

The treaty, which went into effect in 1967, is aimed at promoting the peaceful use of space.
Kamikawa told reporters after the meeting that Japan plans to submit the draft resolution to the security council jointly with the US. The timing of the submission will reportedly be arranged later.

In Monday's meeting, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield also hinted at the submission of the draft resolution, noting that putting nuclear weapons into Earth orbit is dangerous and cannot be tolerated.

A senior US official last month criticized Russia's reported program to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon, saying it would violate the Outer Space Treaty to which Russia is party.