Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on Sunday as Mayor Shiro Suzuki called nuclear weapons “absolute evil,” warned against growing reliance on nuclear deterrence and urged the Japanese government to uphold the country’s three postwar non-nuclear principles.
The anniversary came as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government revises Japan’s defense policy to strengthen the military’s offensive capabilities. Debate has also intensified over whether Takaichi, who supports nuclear deterrence, could eventually allow nuclear weapons into Japan, potentially violating the country’s third non-nuclear principle.
Suzuki said some countries argue that nuclear weapons deter potential attackers, but the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated the devastating consequences of crossing what he described as a fundamental line.
“The theory of nuclear deterrence is extremely dangerous and fragile. Nuclear weapons are not a ‘necessary evil’ but an ‘absolute evil,’ and can never coexist with humanity,” Suzuki said.
He also warned leaders of nuclear-armed states and countries that rely on nuclear deterrence that greater dependence on nuclear weapons increases the risk of nuclear war.
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killing an estimated 70,000 people by the end of that year. The attack came three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, which killed an estimated 140,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and nearly half a century of Japanese aggression across Asia.
Representatives from more than 90 countries attended Sunday’s ceremony at Nagasaki’s Peace Park and observed a minute of silence at 11:02 a.m., the exact time a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped the plutonium bomb known as “Fat Man.”
Mayor urges Japan to uphold non-nuclear principles
Suzuki directly addressed the Japanese government, calling on it to uphold Japan’s war-renouncing Constitution, attend the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons review conference later this year and maintain the country’s three non-nuclear principles.
The principles call on Japan not to possess, produce or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons into its territory.
Takaichi supports the first two principles concerning the possession and development of nuclear weapons.
The prime minister attended Sunday’s ceremony and again described her approach to achieving a world without nuclear weapons as “realistic and pragmatic.”
However, as in Hiroshima, Takaichi did not clearly commit to all three non-nuclear principles and only reiterated that Japan currently maintains the policy.
Takaichi also did not mention the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in her speech. Japan has refused to sign the treaty because it relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its security.
She later told reporters that Japan would continue working within the framework of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. She said her government would decide how to approach the nuclear weapons ban treaty based on what it considers most effective for protecting Japan’s national security and advancing nuclear disarmament.
Hibakusha fear memories of the bombings will fade
Survivors of the atomic bombings have expressed growing frustration with the Japanese government’s support for nuclear deterrence, describing its position as inconsistent with Japan’s experience as the only country to have suffered atomic attacks during wartime.
Concern over a possible relaxation of the non-nuclear principles under Takaichi has also prompted protests by hibakusha, the Japanese term for atomic bombing survivors, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The number of surviving hibakusha has fallen to 91,105, roughly one-quarter of the original number. Their average age now exceeds 86.
Survivors have increasingly warned that memories of the bombings could disappear as their generation grows older, particularly because the youngest survivors were too young at the time to retain clear memories of the attacks.
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(Source: AP)
