Japan has marked the 69th anniversary of the deadly 1945 US atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
During a ceremony held on Wednesday to honor the 140,000 people who lost their lives in the US atomic bombing, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that his country had the duty to seek the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide.

Representatives from nearly 70 countries, including the US itself, France, Britain, and Russia, took part in the ceremony.

About 45,000 Japanese people, including ageing survivors, officials, and foreign delegates, stood for a minute of silence at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park.

During the ceremony, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui invited US President Barack Obama and the leaders of other nuclear-armed countries to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki - which was also targeted by a US nuclear bomb - “as soon as possible” to witness the scars of the deadly attacks.

If the aforementioned leaders do visit the cities, the Hiroshima mayor said, they “will be convinced that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil that must no longer be allowed to exist.”

The US targeted Nagasaki with another nuclear bomb three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.  Another 70,000 people were killed in the Nagasaki bombing.

This year, the number of the survivors of the two US nuclear bombings stands at about 190,000.

By Press TV

 

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