EXCLUSIVE: U.K., French Officials to Attend Hiroshima, Nagasaki Ceremonies

Tokyo, June 30 (Jiji Press)--Government representatives of Britain and France, both nuclear weapons states, are expected to attend this year's peace memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the 66th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of the two western Japan cities, Jiji Press learned Thursday.
Both countries are considering sending their charge d'affaires to the ceremony in Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and that in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, informed sources said.
It will be the second time for British and French government officials to take part in the ceremonies, following the first such attendance in 2010.
Sources in the two governments said they will send representatives to the ceremonies out of respect for the victims of the atomic bombings and to clarify their resolve to pursue nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.
Meanwhile, an official at the U.S. consulate in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, said that Washington has yet to decide whether any U.S. government representative will attend this year's ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Last year, U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos attended the Aug. 6 ceremony in Hiroshima, becoming the first U.S. government representative to take part in the annual event.
At this year's ceremonies, attention will likely be paid to what the prime minister of Japan and the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will say about future energy policy and what to do with nuclear power plants, in the wake of Japan's worst nuclear disaster, the ongoing crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 plant, which was badly damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Japan is the world's only nation to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 in the closing days of World War II, and another on Nagasaki three days later.
Last year, the peace memorial ceremony in Hiroshima attracted government representatives from a record 74 foreign countries. The ceremony in Nagasaki was attended by representatives from 32 countries, also a record high.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon attended the Aug. 6 Hiroshima ceremony to become the first United Nations leader to take part in the event, stressing the need for the world to eliminate nuclear weapons. Although Ban did not attend the Aug. 9 ceremony in Nagasaki, he visited the city on Aug. 5.
U.S. envoy Roos skipped the Nagasaki ceremony last year, but visited ground zero in the city in September to lay flowers.