80 years on, Japanese city of Nagasaki commemorates atomic bombing victims
Tokyo
The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Saturday commemorated the victims of the atomic bombing 80 years ago, as global concerns over the threat of nuclear conflict continue to grow.
At a ceremony marking the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Mayor Shiro Suzuki warned of the growing danger of nuclear war.
'This existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth,' Suzuki said in a peace declaration delivered at the annual memorial ceremony.
The mayor called on the world to learn from history and ensure that Nagasaki remains the last city to suffer a nuclear attack. A moment of silence was observed at the ceremony at 11:02 am (0202 GMT) to mark the time on August 9, 1945, when the 'Fat Man' atomic bomb dropped by the United States detonated over Nagasaki.
In Nagasaki alone, about 70,000 people were killed by the direct impact, while 75,000 others were injured.
Three days earlier, in the closing days of World War II, the US had devastated Hiroshima with another atomic bomb, marking the first use of nuclear weapons against human beings. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki became symbols of the horrors of war.
Suzuki said the world is today plagued by a vicious cycle of confrontation and fragmentation, which must be overcome.
He emphasized that civil society has great power, pointing to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
The grassroots movement is made up of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Nagasaki's mayor once again called on the Japanese government to join a 2017 UN treaty banning nuclear weapons, echoing a demand made by his counterpart in Hiroshima at a memorial ceremony three days earlier.
UN Secretary General António Guterres commemorated the victims of the Nagasaki bombing in a post on X.
'80 years since Nagasaki was devastated by an atomic bomb, we remember the tens of thousands who perished in an instant,' he wrote.
'Let's work together urgently for a world free of nuclear weapons,' the UN head added.
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