Hiroshima Mayor, Shinzo Abe

Hiroshima mayor, Abe call for abolition of nuclear weapons on 70th anniversary of A-bomb

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201508060057

August 06, 2015

By GEN OKAMOTO/ Staff Writer

HIROSHIMA--Referring to nuclear weapons as the "ultimate inhumanity," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on the nations of the world to create a security structure that does not rely on military force.

Matsui read this year's Peace Declaration at a ceremony on Aug. 6 at Peace Memorial Park marking the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

He also pledged to make greater efforts to transmit the facts of the atomic bombing to future generations in light of the aging of the hibakusha, who survived the atomic bomb, and the decreasing number of individuals who can provide a first-hand account of the events of Aug. 6, 1945.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also spoke at the ceremony and said, "We will make further efforts toward realization of a world without nuclear weapons."

He also pledged to submit a draft declaration at this autumn's U.N. General Assembly calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

However, unlike his speeches in 2013 and 2014, Abe did not refer to maintaining the three non-nuclear principles of not manufacturing or possessing nuclear weapons as well as not allowing such weapons to enter Japan.

According to Hiroshima municipal government officials, about 55,000 people attended the ceremony, including hibakusha and bereaved family members. Hibakusha and surviving family members living abroad, such as in South Korea, also attended this year's ceremony, the first time they did so in a decade.

U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy attended for the second consecutive year, along with Rose Gottemoeller, the first U.S. under secretary of state to attend the ceremony. Gottemoeller is in charge of arms control and international security. Ambassadors from Britain, France and Russia attended, but the Chinese ambassador did not.

A record 100 nations were represented at the ceremony.

A total of 5,359 hibakusha were confirmed to have died over the past year. Matsui and representatives of bereaved family members placed a roster with the names of those hibakusha into the memorial cenotaph. Abe and other participants also laid wreaths before the cenotaph.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m. when the Peace Bell was rung to mark the time the bomb detonated over the city.