Kyodo News, Japan
Nuclear Powers Shun Event for Hiroshima A-Bomb Anniversary

August 6, 2006
Japan - Kyodo News - Home Page (English)    

HIROSHIMA: The city of Hiroshima held a memorial service on Sunday to mark the 61st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing in World War II, with Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba calling on all nations to ''faithfully'' engage in nuclear disarmament negotiations.

In a Peace Declaration read at the memorial service, Akiba expressed concern over stalled moves toward nuclear elimination and said he expects Japan, the only country to experience the devastation of nuclear warfare, to play a forceful role in such a global campaign.

''The number of nations enamored by evil and enslaved by nuclear weapons is increasing,'' he said. ''The human family stands at a crossroads. Will all nations be enslaved? Or will all nations be liberated?''

Some 45,000 people - including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.N. Undersecretary General Nobuaki Tanaka - gathered at the Peace Memorial Park in the western Japanese city.

Koizumi vowed to maintain the Constitution's peace clause and Japan's three avowed principles of not producing, possessing, or allowing nuclear weapons on its soil.

''We will continue to stand at the forefront of the effort to realize permanent peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons'' Koizumi said.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945. A thousand doves were released into the sky.

Even though the world is far from getting rid of its nuclear arsenals, Tanaka read a message from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, encouraging efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation regime.

''A world without nuclear weapons may be distant, but it is not a dream. The end of the Cold War made possible a measurable reduction in nuclear arsenals. The progress must now be accelerated and solidified,'' Annan said.

Akiba criticized the world's political leaders for failing to accept a historic advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice 10 years ago.

The opinion said that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law and advised that all nations are under an obligation to pursue negotiations in ''good faith'' and conclude measures leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.

''If the nuclear-weapon states had taken the lead and sought in good faith to fulfill this obligation, nuclear weapons would have already been abolished,'' Akiba said.

Hiroshima, with the 1,402 member cities of the ''Mayors for Peace'' organization, which Akiba heads, has launched a campaign to promote the World Court's advisory and a project to demand that nuclear-weapon states rule out cities as targets of a nuclear attack. Mayors for Peace hope to realize a nuclear-free world by 2020.

The Hiroshima anniversary comes amid lingering global concern over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Iran's nuclear enrichment activity and the Middle East crisis, which has claimed the lives of a growing number of people.

Akiba said he expects the Japanese government to ''forcefully insist'' that nuclear-weapon states engage in good-faith disarmament negotiations.

''To that end, I demand that the government respect the peace Constitution of which we should be proud,'' he added, apparently hoping to prevent moves to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution [to allow for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea's missile launchers ].

Akiba also called for the government to provide support for aging atomic bomb victims in accordance with their actual conditions.

Many atomic bomb survivors attended the ceremony, including plaintiffs who have won a lawsuit against the state after being certified as suffering from illnesses caused by atomic bomb radiation.

Some people waved fans bearing the slogan ''Don't appeal'' as part of a campaign to prevent the state from appealing against the Hiroshima District Court ruling handed down Friday, which questioned the government-set criteria in regard to receiving atomic-bomb illness certification.

In his speech, Koizumi stressed that the government will continue to promote measures to support atomic bomb survivors, but some supporters later criticized his comments saying it sounded hollow.

A total of 259,556 atomic bomb survivors were alive as of March 31, with an average age 73.9. Since Aug. 6 of last year, Hiroshima recognized the names of 5,350 people as atomic-bomb victims, all of which were added to the cenotaph at the Peace Memorial Park, bringing the total number of the city's victims to 247,787. And this year for the first time, the city added the words ''Many Unknown'' to the ledger of victims' names, which was put in a container at the cenotaph.

The city of Hiroshima invited government representatives from 140 countries, of which 35 countries sent delegates. But of the seven declared nuclear powers - Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States - as well as North Korea and Iran, only Russia and Iran sent delegates. Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, also attended.

Among members of the public participating was Jennifer Borio, 34, an American living in Tokyo who is taking a peace studies course at Hiroshima City University.

''World leaders should come to Hiroshima to see for themselves the devastation (caused by the A-bomb). Hiroshima inspires people to make the world a better place, though it's ironic that it does,'' she said.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later, bringing an end to World War II.

VIDEO FROM 1946: A TALE OF TWO CITIES;

A FILM FROM THE U.S. WAR DEPARTMENT

FILM FROM U.S. WAR DEPARTMENT : A film about what happenned with the Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1946, 00:12:03

"The atomic age is born."

After the Bombs Fell, 1945