Chief organizer of Nobel Prize A-bomb survivors group steps down
KYODO NEWS - 10 minutes ago - 18:48 | All, Japan
Sueichi Kido, 85, officially stepped down as secretary general of Japan's Nobel Peace Prize-winning atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo at its annual meeting on Thursday due to ill health.
Kido was 5 years old when he was exposed to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in the final days of World War II. In 2017, he assumed the post that effectively leads the group's efforts to abolish nuclear arms and was among the delegation that accepted the Nobel Prize in Oslo in December.
He said in May that he intended to vacate the secretary general position, citing health reasons. He will continue to serve as an adviser to the organization, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.
Jiro Hamasumi was selected as new secretary general at Thursday's meeting in Tokyo. A 79-year-old in-utero atomic bomb survivor, his mother, who was pregnant with him, was exposed to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
Hamasumi was the group's deputy secretary general from 2015 and had been acting on Kido's behalf since October.
In March, he spoke at the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
Related coverage:
Japan imperial couple commemorates A-bomb victims in Hiroshima
Over 90 nations call for preserving A-bomb memories in U.N. meeting
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