Nagasaki marks A-bomb attack
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Japanese city of Nagasaki marked the 65th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attack yesterday with a record 32 countries attending, but no American representative.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02am, the time when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the southern Japanese city on August 9, 1945 in the waning days of World War II.
Nagasaki was flattened three days after the US detonated its first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. About 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki, while some 140,000 people were killed or died within months in Hiroshima.
Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II.
The ceremony began with a chorus of aging survivors of the atomic bombing and Mayor Tomihisa Taue calling for a nuclear-free world.
"Nagasaki, together with Hiroshima, will continue to make the utmost efforts until the world gets rid of all nuclear weapons," he said.
While the United States sent Ambassador John Roos as the country's first delegate to last Friday's memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, it did not dispatch a representative to the Nagasaki anniversary.
The US Embassy in Tokyo said yesterday the ambassador could not attend the Nagasaki ceremony due to schedule conflicts. The US envoy recently called the city's mayor to tell him he hopes to visit Nagasaki in the future.
A Nagasaki city official said delegations from a record 32 countries, including nuclear powers Britain and France, attended the ceremony.
The US decided to drop the bombs because it would hasten the end of the war and avert the need to wage prolonged and bloody land battles on Japan's main island.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02am, the time when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the southern Japanese city on August 9, 1945 in the waning days of World War II.
Nagasaki was flattened three days after the US detonated its first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. About 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki, while some 140,000 people were killed or died within months in Hiroshima.
Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II.
The ceremony began with a chorus of aging survivors of the atomic bombing and Mayor Tomihisa Taue calling for a nuclear-free world.
"Nagasaki, together with Hiroshima, will continue to make the utmost efforts until the world gets rid of all nuclear weapons," he said.
While the United States sent Ambassador John Roos as the country's first delegate to last Friday's memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, it did not dispatch a representative to the Nagasaki anniversary.
The US Embassy in Tokyo said yesterday the ambassador could not attend the Nagasaki ceremony due to schedule conflicts. The US envoy recently called the city's mayor to tell him he hopes to visit Nagasaki in the future.
A Nagasaki city official said delegations from a record 32 countries, including nuclear powers Britain and France, attended the ceremony.
The US decided to drop the bombs because it would hasten the end of the war and avert the need to wage prolonged and bloody land battles on Japan's main island.
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