Hiroshima mayor protests against North Korea

Angered by the reports that North Korea in its talks with the United States and China acknowledged holding nuclear weapons, Akiba Tadatoshi, mayor of the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima, on April 25 sent a letter of protest to Kim Jong Il, general secretary of North Korea's Workers Party, for going against the trend of nuclear disarmament.

The mayor said that North Korea's lifting of a ban on its nuclear development program last year and the latest acknowledgment of holding nuclear weapons with an intention to test them reneges on the wish of Hibakusha for peace without nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo) and the Prefectural Confederation of A and H Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo) on the same day sent a letter to Kim Jong Il, calling for an immediate abolition of its nuclear weapons. Referring to the fact that survivors of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki live in North Korea, the letter said that the nuclear weapons be abolished. (end)