TOKYO, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - The duty of all countries on the planet is “to build a world without nuclear weapons.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made this statement on Friday - on the 68th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.
He reaffirmed Tokyo’s commitment to its three non-nuclear principles: not to have, not to manufacture or import into the country nuclear weapons. Abe also urged the world to remember the lessons of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Memorial events are taking place in the city’s Peace Park. The ceremony was opened to the sound of a bell by two students of a local school, after which three Memory Books with the names of all the victims of the 1945 bombing were laid at the memorial. Representatives of the government, NGOs and school students also laid wreaths of white and yellow flowers at the memorial.
Nagasaki was the second Japanese city after Hiroshima that suffered atomic bombing by the United States in August 1945. Its consequences were disastrous: more than 70 thousand residents of Nagasaki were killed instantly, and the city was virtually razed to the ground. In subsequent years, the number of the fatalities of the bombing continued to grow - people were dying of radiation sickness. To date, the total number of deaths as a result of the bombing is 152 thousand people.