During the 68th anniversary of the US bombing of Nagasaki, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assured that the government of Japan will ask for abolition of nuclear weapons. On August 9, 2013, Mayor Tomihisa Taue criticized the government, as it did not take any move to oppose nuclear weapons and urged it to show leadership, as the world’s only country which suffered a nuclear bombing.
In his latest Peace Declaration at a ceremony in Nagasaki, Taue said, “I call on the Japanese government to consider once again that Japan is the only country to have suffered a nuclear bombing”. The ceremony was attended by representatives from more than 40 countries.
The Mayor also expressed his worries over the resumption of Japan-India negotiations for nuclear cooperation agreement. Taue went on to say that such cooperation with India – which is a de facto nuclear power that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – would become meaningless.
On the other hand, Abe promised that Japan will make every effort to eradicate nuclear weapons, as he did during the ceremony in Hiroshima, commemorating the 1945 atomic bombing of the city. When it comes to the number of survivors, the official record stood at 37,574 and they had an average age of 78.2.
Photo Credits: Inquirer
