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Japan's Nagasaki Marks Anniversary of Atomic Bombing
The city of Nagasaki in southwestern Japan on Wednesday commemorated the 55th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing with a call for the anti-nuclear movement to return to its original spirit.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, representatives from seven of Japan's leading political parties, as well as atomic-bomb survivors and bereaved family members attended an annual Peace Memorial Ceremony at Nagasaki's Peace Park.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito presented a list of 2,603 people whom the city office has newly recognized as victims of the bombing over the period between August 1 last year and July 31 this year, bringing the total number of deaths from the bombing to 121,458.
Ito delivered a peace declaration, calling on nuclear powers to immediately begin multilateral negotiations for the early conclusion of a comprehensive treaty banning nuclear weapons.
"Nagasaki has remained the last battle field where nuclear weapons have been used, with the unspeakable tragic experience of Nagasaki and Hiroshima having served as preventative forces," he said.
As the first and only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, Japan must take a leading role in efforts for their elimination, Ito said.
At 11:02 a.m. (0202 GMT), the exact time of the blast, Nagasaki citizens offered a minute of silent prayer.
The bomb dropped from a U.S. B-29 bomber on August 9, 1945, killed an estimated 74,000 people and injured some 75,000 others immediately after the attack.
The bombing of Nagasaki, three days after that of Hiroshima, was followed by Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II six days later.
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