Japan to speed up disposal of chemical weapons

  Japanese government officials said the opening of a new facility will help them speed up the disposal of chemical weapons left in China by former Japanese military at the end of World War Two. They said the new facility will open in the northeastern province of Jilin and will facilitate the destruction of up to 400,000 munitions, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website. Experts have so far treated about 37,000 of 50,000 munitions collected from Chinese soil since the year 2000. But the pace has been slow as workers have to assemble the munitions in groups and blow them up by hand. The new facility is installed with a furnace where the munitions will be melted en masse at high temperatures. Officials at the Cabinet Office said they expect the new system to immensely speed up the disposal time. The Japanese government is making efforts to destroy the abandoned weapons in accordance with a convention under the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. It is hoping to complete the work by the end of 2022.