A-bomb anniversary in Nagasaki amid US-North Korea tension

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

The world’s first atomic bomb, used on Aug. 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima. The bombing of Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000 more.

Technalogix

Red Deer company developing radar defence receives additional investment

3h ago

Major roads completed

Residential street sweeping in Red Deer begins May 19

20h ago

dang, it was gusty

The wind was a-howlin' on Thursday in Alberta

20h ago

At 11:02 a.m., when the bomb struck 72 years ago, people at the ceremony observed a moment of silence as the peace bell rang.

“The nuclear threat will not end as long as nations continue to claim that nuclear weapons are essential for their national security,” Taue said.

Taue sharply criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government for what he said were empty promises about working to achieve a nuclear-free world. He said Japan’s absence even during diplomatic negotiations for the U.N. Nuclear Prohibition Treaty, adopted in July, is “incomprehensible to those of us living in the cities that suffered atomic bombings.”

The outspoken mayor praised the atomic bombing survivors, or “hibakusha,” for their lifelong devotion to the effort. He urged Japan’s government to change its policy of relying on the U.S. nuclear umbrella and join the nuclear prohibition treaty as soon as possible.

“Nuclear weapons are incompatible with mankind,” said Yoshitoshi Fukahori, an 88-year-old survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing who lost his sister in the blast. He said that as he rushed home the morning after the bombing, the shocking view from the hilltop — his hometown flattened and the landmark Catholic church on fire — made him cry.

Fukahori, who operates a library of atomic bombing photos, said Japan, which has since rebuilt itself as a pacifist nation, should never lose the respect and trust it has regained from the international community.

Abe, in a speech that was almost a repeat of what he said in Hiroshima, did not mention the U.N. nuclear ban treaty.

More than 175,000 hibakusha have died in Nagasaki since the attack, including 3,551 in the past year, while over 300,000 of their peers have died in Hiroshima. The average age of the survivors is more than 81 years. Many suffer from lasting effects of radiation.

___

Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Her work can be found www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press