ID :
74491
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 12:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/74491
The shortlink copeid
Nagasaki mayor calls on humanity to choose path to nuke-free world+
NAGASAKI, Aug. 9 Kyodo - Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue on Sunday called on people around the globe to choose the path toward a world free of nuclear weapons, echoing a call made earlier by U.S. President Barack Obama, as the southwestern Japanese city
commemorated the 64th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing.
''We, as human beings, now have two paths before us,'' Taue said in his Peace
Declaration read out at a memorial ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park. ''While one
can lead us to 'a world without nuclear weapons,' the other will carry us
toward annihilation.''
The declaration followed the one by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, who urged
the world three days earlier to join the city's effort to abolish nuclear
weapons in response to Obama's appeal for a nuclear arms-free world.
In April, Obama said in Prague that the United States will seek a world without
nuclear weapons, creating a wave of optimism among those who are petitioning
for the abolishment of nuclear arms across the world.
''President Obama's speech was a watershed event, in that the United States, a
superpower possessing nuclear weapons, finally took a step toward the
elimination of nuclear armaments,'' Taue said, adding that people in Nagasaki
are circulating petitions urging the U.S. leader to visit the city, which was
devastated by the 1945 bombing.
As for Japan's role, Taue said the country must take a leading role in
disseminating around the world the ''ideals of peace and renunciation of war''
as stipulated in its Constitution, as the only nation to have suffered nuclear
bombings.
The mayor also urged the Japanese government to legislate its three non-nuclear
principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese
territory, and work on creating a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Northeast
Asian region including North Korea.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time when a U.S. bomber
dropped an atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 9, 1945, killing an estimated 74,000
people by the end of that year. The bombing occurred three days after the first
one was dropped on Hiroshima.
A total of 3,304 people were additionally recognized in the past year as
fatalities from the bombing of Nagasaki, bringing the total number of those who
have died as a result of it to 149,266, according to city government officials.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ayako Okumura, a 72-year-old atomic bomb survivor,
touched on Obama's speech, saying, ''I feel as if finally, after 64 years, the
voices of atomic bomb survivors have reached the world. It means a great deal
to me.''
Okumura, who was some 500 meters away from the hypocenter during the bombing,
lost her eight family members, and is now involved in activities to tell her
story to students on school trips and take them around memorial sites.
About 6,000 people took part in the ceremony, which was attended by diplomats
from 29 nations, including Russia, the only nuclear power among them.
This year's anniversary comes on the heels of North Korea conducting a second
nuclear test in May, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Taue touched on Pyongyang's conduct, saying, ''As long as the world continues
to rely on nuclear deterrence and nuclear weapons continue to exist, the
possibility always exists that dangerous nations like North Korea and
terrorists will emerge.''
He urged the international community to make North Korea destroy its nuclear
arsenal and said the five major nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France,
Russia and the United States -- must ''fulfill their responsibility to reduce
nuclear arms.''
In support of Taue, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the U.N. General
Assembly, told the ceremony, ''The only certain way to assure that nuclear
weapons will never be used again is to eliminate them outright.''
''I join the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their many collaborators
across the world in endorsing their call for achieving a nuclear-free world by
2020, a date that coincides with the 75th anniversary of the 1945 bombing,'' he
said.
Also attending the ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged to stick
to Japan's three non-nuclear principles as he gave a speech similar to the one
he delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier.
Aso also mentioned an agreement reached Thursday between the government and
people suffering from atomic bombing-related illnesses under which the state
will provide a blanket resolution to all 306 plaintiffs who have sought
recognition as suffering from illnesses caused by the bombings.
The move came after the state lost 19 straight lawsuits filed across the
country over the certification issue, putting an end to their six-year-long
legal battle.
Following the memorial ceremony, five Nagasaki-based groups of atomic bomb
survivors jointly submitted a petition to Aso, asking the government to enact
measures to relieve all atomic bomb disease sufferers, including those who live
abroad, while conducting health checkups of their children and grandchildren.
Earlier in the morning, a series of masses commemorating victims of the atomic
bombing were held at Urakami Cathedral near the hypocenter as several hundreds,
including the survivors, prayed for the victims' souls and world peace.
Yaeko Kataoka, a 64-year-old survivor who attended the mass from 6:00 a.m.,
said she is hopeful for a world without nuclear weapons but not so optimistic
about achieving the goal in the near future.
''Reduction of nuclear arms is not sufficient enough because as long as some
countries possess them, they could use them. It has to be a total elimination
(of nuclear arms),'' Kataoka said after attending the mass.
''In that sense, I can't just be hunky-dory after hearing President Obama's
speech.''
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a total of 235,569
survivors were living throughout Japan as of March 31, down 8,123 from the year
before, with their average age at 75.92, while some 4,500 hibakusha live
overseas.
Japan surrendered Aug. 15, 1945, six days after the second atomic bomb turned
Nagasaki into a silent ruin, bringing an end to World War II.
==Kyodo
commemorated the 64th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing.
''We, as human beings, now have two paths before us,'' Taue said in his Peace
Declaration read out at a memorial ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park. ''While one
can lead us to 'a world without nuclear weapons,' the other will carry us
toward annihilation.''
The declaration followed the one by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, who urged
the world three days earlier to join the city's effort to abolish nuclear
weapons in response to Obama's appeal for a nuclear arms-free world.
In April, Obama said in Prague that the United States will seek a world without
nuclear weapons, creating a wave of optimism among those who are petitioning
for the abolishment of nuclear arms across the world.
''President Obama's speech was a watershed event, in that the United States, a
superpower possessing nuclear weapons, finally took a step toward the
elimination of nuclear armaments,'' Taue said, adding that people in Nagasaki
are circulating petitions urging the U.S. leader to visit the city, which was
devastated by the 1945 bombing.
As for Japan's role, Taue said the country must take a leading role in
disseminating around the world the ''ideals of peace and renunciation of war''
as stipulated in its Constitution, as the only nation to have suffered nuclear
bombings.
The mayor also urged the Japanese government to legislate its three non-nuclear
principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese
territory, and work on creating a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Northeast
Asian region including North Korea.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time when a U.S. bomber
dropped an atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 9, 1945, killing an estimated 74,000
people by the end of that year. The bombing occurred three days after the first
one was dropped on Hiroshima.
A total of 3,304 people were additionally recognized in the past year as
fatalities from the bombing of Nagasaki, bringing the total number of those who
have died as a result of it to 149,266, according to city government officials.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ayako Okumura, a 72-year-old atomic bomb survivor,
touched on Obama's speech, saying, ''I feel as if finally, after 64 years, the
voices of atomic bomb survivors have reached the world. It means a great deal
to me.''
Okumura, who was some 500 meters away from the hypocenter during the bombing,
lost her eight family members, and is now involved in activities to tell her
story to students on school trips and take them around memorial sites.
About 6,000 people took part in the ceremony, which was attended by diplomats
from 29 nations, including Russia, the only nuclear power among them.
This year's anniversary comes on the heels of North Korea conducting a second
nuclear test in May, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Taue touched on Pyongyang's conduct, saying, ''As long as the world continues
to rely on nuclear deterrence and nuclear weapons continue to exist, the
possibility always exists that dangerous nations like North Korea and
terrorists will emerge.''
He urged the international community to make North Korea destroy its nuclear
arsenal and said the five major nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France,
Russia and the United States -- must ''fulfill their responsibility to reduce
nuclear arms.''
In support of Taue, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the U.N. General
Assembly, told the ceremony, ''The only certain way to assure that nuclear
weapons will never be used again is to eliminate them outright.''
''I join the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their many collaborators
across the world in endorsing their call for achieving a nuclear-free world by
2020, a date that coincides with the 75th anniversary of the 1945 bombing,'' he
said.
Also attending the ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged to stick
to Japan's three non-nuclear principles as he gave a speech similar to the one
he delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier.
Aso also mentioned an agreement reached Thursday between the government and
people suffering from atomic bombing-related illnesses under which the state
will provide a blanket resolution to all 306 plaintiffs who have sought
recognition as suffering from illnesses caused by the bombings.
The move came after the state lost 19 straight lawsuits filed across the
country over the certification issue, putting an end to their six-year-long
legal battle.
Following the memorial ceremony, five Nagasaki-based groups of atomic bomb
survivors jointly submitted a petition to Aso, asking the government to enact
measures to relieve all atomic bomb disease sufferers, including those who live
abroad, while conducting health checkups of their children and grandchildren.
Earlier in the morning, a series of masses commemorating victims of the atomic
bombing were held at Urakami Cathedral near the hypocenter as several hundreds,
including the survivors, prayed for the victims' souls and world peace.
Yaeko Kataoka, a 64-year-old survivor who attended the mass from 6:00 a.m.,
said she is hopeful for a world without nuclear weapons but not so optimistic
about achieving the goal in the near future.
''Reduction of nuclear arms is not sufficient enough because as long as some
countries possess them, they could use them. It has to be a total elimination
(of nuclear arms),'' Kataoka said after attending the mass.
''In that sense, I can't just be hunky-dory after hearing President Obama's
speech.''
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a total of 235,569
survivors were living throughout Japan as of March 31, down 8,123 from the year
before, with their average age at 75.92, while some 4,500 hibakusha live
overseas.
Japan surrendered Aug. 15, 1945, six days after the second atomic bomb turned
Nagasaki into a silent ruin, bringing an end to World War II.
==Kyodo
