TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to skip a convention of signatories to a U.N. nuclear weapons ban treaty to be held in New York in March, government sources said Saturday, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year.

The plan comes as Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group, which won last year's Nobel Peace Prize, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner Komeito have urged the prime minister to participate in the convention as an observer.

However, Ishiba, who became prime minister in October, remains cautious about participating in the third gathering of signatories to the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Japan is not a member of the international agreement, which entered into force in 2021, and skipped the first two meetings. All countries designated by the treaty as nuclear weapon states have also stayed out.

The prime minister believes that Japan, which relies on the nuclear deterrence provided by the United States, needs to take a realistic approach to realizing a world free of nuclear weapons, the sources said.

"It is very unfortunate. It would have been the best opportunity to do so now, but (the government) may be gauging America's stance," said Terumi Tanaka, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo.

The organization, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, asked Ishiba to attend the convention in New York during its meeting with him earlier in the month.

Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki have also made a similar request.

Ishiba has underscored the importance of nuclear deterrence in the face of nuclear threats from North Korea, China and Russia.

He hopes to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance and his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump at a bilateral summit meeting expected in early February.

Japan aims to act as a bridge between nuclear powers and those without nuclear weapons and has supported the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is also backed by the United States.

U.S. atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of World War II in August 1945, killing an estimated 214,000 people by the end of that year and leaving numerous survivors grappling with long-term physical and mental health challenges.