Japan Press Weekly

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2017 August 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

Abe in Nagasaki ceremony for A-bomb victims again disregards nuclear weapons ban treaty

On August 9, the day marking the 72nd anniversary of the U.S. A-bombing of Nagasaki, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in his speech in the city government-hosted memorial ceremony again turned his back on the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty.

The ceremony took place in the Nagasaki Peace Park, with 5,400 people, including Hibakusha, representatives from 58 countries and the European Union, taking part. From the Japanese Communist Party, Secretariat Head Koike Akira and other JCP lawmakers attended the ceremony.

Nagasaki City Mayor Taue Tomihisa read out this year’s Peace Declaration. He said that the nuclear weapons ban treaty was adopted at the UN Conference in July and stressed, “This was a moment when all the efforts of the Hibakusha over the years finally took shape.” The mayor criticized the Japanese government for absenting itself from the talks on the treaty and said that such a stance is “quite incomprehensible to those of us living in the cities that suffered atomic bombings”. He stated that as the government of the only A-bombed country in the world, the Abe government should sign and ratify the antinuke treaty without delay and abandon its policy of depending on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Representing Hibakusha, Fukabori Yoshitoshi delivered a speech and said that Japan should not lose the respect and trust of the international community which the nation has established as a country with a pacifist constitution after the war.

PM Abe in his speech paid no attention to the historic treaty to prohibit nuclear arms, as he also did in his speech in Hiroshima three days earlier. Clearly, Abe showed his intent to continue to ignore the antinuke international convention.

Abe’s attitude was totally different from other speakers who touched on the N-ban treaty in the event, such as the Nagasaki City Assembly chair and the Nagasaki governor. The UN Secretary General in his message for the ceremony also underscored the significance of the treaty.

After the ceremony, Abe met with representatives of five Hibakusha groups in Nagasaki. The five representatives urged PM Abe to sign the treaty.

Kawano Koichi, who chairs the Hibakusha liaison council of the Nagasaki Prefectural Peace Movement Center, said that Abe has the responsibility as the prime minister of the only A-bombed country to lead international efforts for nuclear disarmament. He said, “Prime minister, do you really realize which country you are serving?” In reply, Abe just repeated what he said in the ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Past related articles:
> < Antinuke world conference in Nagasaki calls for proceeding to next stage after the adoption of UN treaty /A> [August 8, 2017]
> 2017 World Conference in Hiroshima resolves to put to use UN treaty calling for total elimination of nuclear weapons [August 4-7, 2017]