October 24, 2018

Five Nagasaki Hibakusha organizations on October 22 published a letter of protest addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump after he announced his intention to pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

In the written protest, A-bomb survivors voiced concern over the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement by saying that it could increase tensions among major powers and also undermine the global momentum toward nuclear disarmament, which in turn could trigger another nuclear arms race and lead to the outbreak of nuclear war.

The world today is moving forward toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, with the expectation that more than 50 counties will ratify the UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons next year so that it will come into force. The letter states, "Your intention is obviously running counter to this global trend."

Hibakusha demanded that President Trump fulfill the needed role of the President of the United States to strive to create a peaceful world.

Moriuchi Minoru, vice chairman of the Nagasaki Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nagasaki Hidankyo) told Akahata that the idea of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is unacceptable. He said, "The government of the only A-bombed country in the world should have remonstrated against President Trump immediately."