Japan Press Weekly

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2014 July 30 - August 12 [POLITICS]

Abe gives last year’s speech at 69th anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima

A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) are criticizing Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for using the same phrases that he used in a speech for last year’s annual ceremony commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Abe on August 6 delivered a four-minute speech at the event held in Hiroshima City. The content of the speech was nearly identical to the speech he delivered last year.

Okoshi Kazuo of the Hiroshima Federation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo) criticized Abe’s making the same speech for being an insult to Hibakusha and the victims of the atomic bombing. He also pointed out that Abe’ behavior revealed that as a leader of the country which experienced the horror of nuclear weapons, he lacked sincerity when talking to the participants at the ceremony and people inside and outside of Japan. Abe should step down immediately, he added.

Sakuma Kunihiko, vice chair of the Hiroshima Hidankyo, said that the speech given by Abe is inappropriate as a prime minister of the only A-bombed nation. Sakuma added that while the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2015 NPT Review Conference are approaching, the prime minister is paying no attention to the demands of Hibakusha. It is unacceptable for Abe to ignore Hibakusha who are longing for peace and opposing Japan’s exercise of the right to collective self-defense, Sakuma stressed.