ID :
136402
Fri, 08/06/2010 - 13:25
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https://www.oananews.org//node/136402
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U.N. head calls for end to nuclear arms on Nagasaki visit+
NAGASAKI, Aug. 5 Kyodo -
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Thursday visited the city of Nagasaki for
the first time and called for a world free of nuclear weapons after meeting
with victims of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States during World War
II ahead of the 65th anniversary of the attack next Monday.
Ban also said after the short visit to the southern Japanese city that he will
recommend that U.S. President Barack Obama visit the southern Japanese city as
well as Hiroshima, the first city hit by the U.S. atomic bombings, when he
meets him in September at the U.N. General Assembly.
The remarks by the U.N. chief came on top of the already heightened hopes among
atomic bomb victims for a visit to the cities by the president, who called for
nuclear abolition in a speech in Prague last year.
The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and on
Nagasaki three days later.
Ban arrived in Hiroshima later in the afternoon as he is scheduled to attend on
Friday an annual ceremony commemorating the atomic bombing of the city as the
first U.N. chief to do so, while over 70 states, a record number, will be
sending representatives, including U.S. Ambassador John Roos who will be the
first U.S. representative to attend. Ban is expected not to attend the Nagasaki
ceremony.
During the symbolic visit to Nagasaki, Ban urged the world to work harder
toward abolishing nuclear weapons.
''The only way to ensure (nuclear) weapons will never again be used is to
eliminate them all,'' Ban said in a speech he gave at the hypocenter of the
atomic bombing of Nagasaki after offering a wreath and silent prayer for the
victims.
Speaking before hundreds of Nagasaki citizens who gathered for the occasion,
Ban said, ''I have come today to pay my respects to their memory,'' referring
to the victims. ''And I have come to stand in solidarity with the citizens of
Nagasaki.''
In the morning visit to the atomic bomb museum, Ban met with Nagasaki A-bomb
Sufferers' Council President Sumiteru Taniguchi, 81, who was a speaker at the
U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May.
Standing before a picture of himself taken about six months after the bombing
and displayed at the museum, Taniguchi explained to Ban that he was 16 when the
bomb was dropped and that he has undergone numerous operations since due to the
severe burns he suffered to his back.
Ban also met with five other hibakushas at the museum, and listened to their
experiences, including the loss of many family members.
''As far as my commitment (toward a world free of nuclear weapons) goes, you
can count on me,'' Ban told the atomic bomb victims during the meeting.
He said he had a ''very heavy heart'' listening to their stories, which he
described as ''just shocking.''
His visit to the city also included laying a wreath at the cenotaph of the
Korean victims of the atomic bombing and a tour around the Urakami Cathedral,
which was devastated by the bombing and later reconstructed.
In a press conference that followed, Ban said he was deeply moved by the
meetings with the victims and by seeing the damage the atomic bomb left, and
said the visit ''further strengthened'' his determination to realize a world
without nuclear weapons.
Ban's visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima follow the U.N. review conference of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty earlier this year, which adopted a final
document in which members unanimously agreed to work toward abolishing nuclear
weapons through 64 action plans.
The conference raised the hopes of A-bomb survivors that the global movement to
abolish nuclear weapons would pick up pace and lead to a symbolic visit to the
two A-bombed cities by Obama.
==Kyodo
2010-08-06 00:00:32
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