Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned Russian threats of nuclear weapon use as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Kishida called for efforts towards a nuclear-free world amid deepening divisions in the international community over nuclear disarmament.
Japan’s prime minister hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Sunday.
Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities days before the end of World War II.
“Japan, as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, will continue efforts towards a nuclear-free world,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a ceremony in Hiroshima.
“The path towards it is becoming increasingly difficult because of deepening divisions in the international community over nuclear disarmament and Russia’s nuclear threat,” he said.
“Given this situation, it is all the more important to bring back international momentum towards realisation of a nuclear-free world,” he said.
“Devastation brought to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear weapons can never be repeated,” said Kishida, whose family comes from Hiroshima.
Kishida’s comments echoed those of UN chief Antonio Guterres, who issued a statement on the Hiroshima anniversary saying that “some countries are recklessly rattling the nuclear sabre once again, threatening to use these tools of annihilation.”
“In the face of these threats, the global community must speak as one. Any use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable,” Guterres said.
At the ceremony, thousands of people — survivors, relatives and foreign dignitaries from a record 111 countries — prayed for those killed or wounded in the bombing and called for world peace.
Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony for the second straight year because of the Ukraine crisis.
Participants, many dressed in black, offered a silent prayer at 8:15 am (2315 GMT Saturday) when the first nuclear weapon used in wartime was dropped.
Marie de La Roche Saint-André, avec AFP
