NAGASAKI (Japan): (Bernama-Kyodo) Nagasaki on Sunday (Aug 9) marked the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city in World War II, as debate about nuclear deterrence amid geopolitical tensions has heightened calls to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, Kyodo News reported.
During the ceremony commemorating the Aug 9, 1945, attack on the southwestern Japan city, which took place three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the west, Mayor Shiro Suzuki is expected to urge world leaders to work toward nuclear disarmament while stressing that humanity cannot coexist with nuclear weapons.
A moment of silence will be held at 11.02am, when the "Fat Man" plutonium device was dropped by a US bomber and exploded over Nagasaki. It remains the last place to have suffered a nuclear attack.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is also expected to deliver remarks at the ceremony, while a statement by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be read aloud.
With debate growing over whether to rethink Japan's longstanding three nonnuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons, Takaichi said after Thursday's ceremony in Hiroshima that the government "is upholding" the policy.
In May, the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, held once every five years in principle, ended for the third consecutive time without a consensus outcome after a monthlong meeting in New York.
The nuclear attack on Nagasaki is believed to have killed around 74,000 people in the city by the end of 1945 and left many others suffering from its effects.
Japan surrendered on Aug 15 the same year, bringing an end to World War II.
Atomic bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, and their supporters are racing to pass on the memories of the two atomic bombings, with the average age of those officially recognised exceeding 86. - Bernama-Kyodo
