Shiro Suzuki offered his remarks after the Group of Seven most industrialized countries issued a statement on nuclear disarmament in May, stating that nuclear weapons are necessary as a deterrent tool.
“Now is the time to show courage and make the decision to rid yourself of reliance on a nuclear deterrent,” the mayor of Nagasaki said on Wednesday. “As long as states continue to rely on nuclear deterrence, we will not be able to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.”
Russia’s nuclear threat has led other countries to accelerate their reliance on nuclear weapons or modernize their arsenals, further increasing the risk of nuclear war, Suzuki said, adding that Russia is not alone in posing the risk of a nuclear deterrent. .
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, pulverizing the city and killing an estimated 140,000 people. Three days later he dropped another atomic bomb, against Nagasaki, killing another 70,000 people. Japan capitulated on August 15, ending World War II and nearly half a century of aggression in Asia.
At 11:02 am, the exact time the bomb exploded in Nagasaki, the participants in the ceremony observed a moment of silence, while the peace bell tolled.
Suzuki expressed fears that the tragedy is being forgotten as time passes and memories fade. Survivors have expressed frustration at the slow pace of disarmament and the fact that the reality of the atomic bomb and the hardship it caused has not been spread around the world.
The expressions come amid a controversy on social media in Japan over the recent movies “Barbie” and “Oppenhheimer.” The simultaneous releases—dubbed “Barbenheimer”—have led to the creation of memes, including ones of the mushroom cloud caused by the atomic bomb. The images caused outrage in Japan, where they were seen as an attempt to downplay the tragedies in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
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