Calls For Peace As Japan Marks Anniversary Of Attack On Hiroshima

Visitors lay pray for the atomic bomb victims in front of the cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (Picture: PA).

A ceremony has been held in Hiroshima to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city as calls are made for global peace. 

Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui opened his speech by describing the hellish scene of the blast that morning 73 years ago and the agony of the victims, telling the audience to listen "as if you and your loved ones were there".

He raised concerns about the global rise of egocentrism and tensions, and urged Japan's government to take more leadership toward achieving a truly nuclear-free world.

Mr Matsui said: 

"Certain countries are blatantly proclaiming self-centred nationalism and modernising their nuclear arsenals, rekindling tensions that had eased with the end of the Cold War."

He said nuclear deterrence and nuclear umbrellas are "inherently unstable and extremely dangerous" and urged world leaders to negotiate in good faith to eliminate nuclear arsenals instead.

The US attack on Hiroshima killed 140,000 people, and the bombing of Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 three days later, leading to Japan's surrender and ending Second World War.

Mr Matsui said in his speech that Japan's government should do more to achieve a nuclear-free world by helping the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons take effect.

Japan, which hosts US troops and is covered by the US nuclear umbrella protecting it from attack, has not signed the treaty.

About 50,000 people, including Hiroshima residents and representatives from 58 countries, including US Ambassador William Hagerty, attended this year's ceremony 73 years after the 6 August 1945 attack.

Survivors, their relatives and other participants marked the 8:15am blast with a minute of silence.

The anniversary comes amid hopes to denuclearise North Korea after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made vague aspirational statements of denuclearising the Korean peninsular when they met in Singapore in June.