August 05, 2003
Ceremony marks anniversary of Hiroshima bombing
Takuya Karube
Associated Press
HIROSHIMA ? On Aug. 6, Hiroshima will mark the 58th anniversary of the world?s first atomic bombing.
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba will deliver a peace declaration in which he is expected to criticize the United States for endangering the global nuclear nonproliferation regime by proclaiming the possibility of a preemptive nuclear first strike and calling for resumed research into smaller, more ?usable nuclear weapons.?
The mayor will call on President Bush, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and all the leaders of nuclear powers to come to visit Hiroshima and learn about the reality of nuclear war.
Addressing the declaration for the first time since the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Akiba is expected to urge that the rule of power be replaced by the rule of law in the international community, quoting the words of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who said, ?Darkness can never be dispelled by darkness, only by light.?
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will also attend the 45-minute ceremony in the Peace Memorial Park, his third attendance at the event.
After Akiba reads out the declaration, the premier is expected to reiterate his pledge to maintain Japan?s war-renouncing Constitution and three avowed principles of not producing, not possessing and not allowing nuclear weapons on its soil before an estimated 40,000-strong crowd.
This year, the names of 5,050 more people recognized as atomic-bomb victims by the city since Aug. 6 last year will be added to a memorial arch-shaped cenotaph, bringing the total number of victims to 231,920.
Other expected participants include Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi, whose ministry is in charge of policies for the rehabilitation of atomic-bombing survivors, and Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Panov.
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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
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