Japan strives to achieve global nuclear disarmament, a statement made on ceremony on the 71st anniversary of Hiroshima’s atomic bombing revealed.
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John Bach, an organzer of the Quaker event, said he worries about the use of depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive byproduct of nuclear weapons that is also unsafe and has been used as a weapon. Six days later, Japan surrendered. “There’s absolutely no point in nuclear weapons – anyone with a brain knows you can’t use them”.
The declaration also touched upon the foreign victims of the atomic bombing, including those from the Korean Peninsula, which was under Japan’s colonial rule at the time, as well as from China and Southeast Asia and USA prisoners of war.
The Yomiuri ShimbunHiroshima and Nagasaki mark the 71st anniversaries of their atomic bombings this month – Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9.
Find out more at: www.hiroshimadaykingston.ca or on Facebook at: Hiroshima Day Peace Lantern Ceremony.
In 1954, a peace memorial park was built in near the blast site in order to commemorate Hiroshima as the first ever city to be struck with a nuclear attack.
The mayor quoted part of President Obama’s speech in his May visit to Hiroshima in which he said that nations, like the United States, that hold nuclear stockpiles, must have courage to put fear behind them, so that in the end, everyone could live in a nuclear free world.
After signing the New START Treaty with Russian Federation, which entered into force in February 2011, the U.S. Congress embarked on a nuclear weapons modernization process expected to spend as much as $1 trillion over the next 30 years.
Steve Stodola, 74, of Arlington, said he worries about government spending on nuclear weapons and what might happen when if are in the hands of the next president.
DAVID E. DRAKE, D.O., is a Des Moines psychiatrist and national board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. We must not deny the reality of needing to keep all nuclear armaments under great security to prevent the possibility of a terrorist group capturing them and taking whole nations hostage.
“It’s time for them to go”, he said.
The museum exhibits extensive materials, both print and reproductions, on the actual bombing and latest nuclear weapons, aiming to contribute to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realisation of lasting world peace.
As for Japan’s role in eliminating nuclear weapons, the premier emphasized the importance of maintaining and enhancing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that binds its signatories not to pursue nuclear weapons programs.
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The President offered no apology for the bombings, having insisted he would not revisit decisions made by then president Harry Truman.
