Youth Reject Nuclear Weapons, SGI Survey Shows

TOKYO, April 28, 2010 - From January to March 2010, youth members of Soka Gakkai International
(SGI) in six countries conducted surveys of their peers' attitudes toward
nuclear weapons and their abolition in advance of the upcoming NPT Review
Conference.

A total of 4,362 interview surveys were conducted of people from their
teens through 30s in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, the USA and
the UK.

Asked whether the presence of nuclear weapons contributes to global peace
and stability, 59.6% of respondents, including those from the nuclear states,
said no.

Further, 67.3% said the use of nuclear weapons was not acceptable under
any circumstances, with only 17.5% seeing it as acceptable as a last resort
if a country's survival was threatened and 6.1% to prevent international
terrorism or genocide.

A total of 59.1% said they would feel safer if nuclear weapons were
abolished.

Asked which countries possess nuclear weapons, 66.9% of the respondents
identified the USA, 48.7% said Russia, 30% China, 19.8% the UK and 19.8%
France. Fewer respondents were aware of the nuclear weapons possessed by
India, Pakistan and Israel, while 40.7% thought North Korea had them.

Within the nuclear states, just 59.2% of US respondents were aware that
their country possessed nuclear weapons, and only 43.2% of UK respondents
were aware of their country's possession.

Soka Gakkai student group leader Takahisa Miyao, the survey organizer,
comments:

"Almost 70% of respondents said the use of nuclear weapons was not
acceptable under any circumstances. This is encouraging for us. Building on
the widespread rejection of nuclear weapons by youth is key to efforts toward
their abolition."

Between January and March 2010, Soka Gakkai youth members in Japan
collected 2,276,167 signatures on a petition calling for the adoption of a
Nuclear Weapons Convention which would prohibit the development, testing,
production, stockpiling, transfer, use and threat of nuclear weapons.

The full survey results are at:

www.peoplesdecade.org/about/efforts/index.html

Soka Gakkai International is a Buddhist association with 12 million
members in 192 countries and territories. It has a 50 year-record of
activities to promote peace and disarmament. In 2007, SGI launched the
People's Decade for Nuclear Abolition, offering a range of educational tools.
See www.peoplesdecade.org

    Contact:  Joan Anderson
              Office of Public Information
              Soka Gakkai International
              Tel: +81-3-5360-9482
              Fax: +81-3-5360-9885
              URL: www.sgi.org
              E-mail: janderson[at]sgi.gr.jp

Joan Anderson, Office of Public Information of Soka Gakkai International, +81-3-5360-9482, or fax, +81-3-5360-9885, janderson[at]sgi.gr.jp