Article Author:
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki pays tribute to the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing 77 years ago on August 9, and the mayor pays tribute to the Russian The war-torn Ukraine issue has shown the world that another nuclear attack is not just a concern, but a "visible and present danger."
Mayor Tomihisa Tagami said in his speech at the Nagasaki Peace Park on Tuesday that nuclear weapons can be used as long as they exist and that their abolition is the only way to save the future of mankind. .
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and threat of use of nuclear weapons came just a month later, with the four other nuclear-weapon states pledging in a statement that nuclear war must never be waged. , he said Taue.
"This showed the world that the use of nuclear weapons is not an unfounded fear, but a visible and present danger," he said. The idea that nuclear weapons could be retained for deterrence rather than for actual use is "fantasy, mere hope."
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. Three days later, dropping her second bomb on Nagasaki, he killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending almost half a century of World War II and Japanese aggression in Asia.
Participants, including diplomats from nuclear-weapon states, observed a moment of silence at 11:02 am, the moment a bomb exploded in a city in southern Japan on August 9, 1945.
Russia tried to retract Putin's warnings last week, but since war with Ukraine began in February, amid Russia's threat of a nuclear attack, Fears of a third atomic bombing are growing: Russia last week shelled a Ukrainian city near Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Japanese officials are concerned that the conflict could make China more aggressive in East Asia, prompting the government to further increase its military strength and spending. there is
Japan has renounced the possession, production, and possession of nuclear weapons, but as an ally of the United States, Japan hosts her 50,000 US troops, protected by the US nuclear umbrella. . Still, the Russian nuclear threat has prompted some hawkish lawmakers in the ruling party to also propose the possibility of nuclear sharing with the United States.
Decades of disarmament and non-proliferation talks have not been put into action, he said, and confidence in the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is "diminished".
"We must recognize that eliminating nuclear weapons is the only realistic way to protect the future of our planet and humanity," Taue said.
Tagami urged the Japanese government to show leadership in pursuing a peaceful diplomacy that does not rely on nuclear deterrence.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, "Although we face a severe security environment, we must follow a history of non-nuclear use and make Nagasaki the site of the final nuclear strike."
Like Hiroshima, Russia and its ally Belarus were not invited to the memorial event in Nagasaki on Tuesday. A human survivor has been identified as eligible for government medical assistance. Now the average age he is over 84 years old.
Many of the survivors of the bombing suffered lingering injuries and illnesses from the blasts and radiation exposure, and face discrimination in Japan.
