Nagasaki Marks 68th Anniversary of US Atomic Bomb

Local Editor

Nagasaki on Friday marked the 68th anniversary of the US atomic attack that killed tens of thousands of people in the Japanese city at the end of World War II.
The memorial service was attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, survivors of the nuclear bombing, celebrities, relatives and government representatives from more than 40 countries.

 Tens of thousands gathered to remember the more than 70,000 people who died instantly in the blast, or of the after-effects in the months and years after the bombing, which hit Nagasaki at 11:02 am local time (0202 GMT).
The event was held at Nagasaki Peace Park near the epicenter of the August 9, 1945 attack.



Nagasaki's mayor criticized Japan's government on Friday for failing to back an
international nuclear disarmament effort as the country marked the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of his city.
During an address at the ceremony, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue knocked the government for refusing to sign a statement rejecting unconditional use of nuclear weapons at an international disarmament meeting in April. He said Japan's inaction "betrayed expectations of the global community."
Japan refused in April to sign an unconditional pledge by nearly 80 countries to never use nuclear weapons.

Taue also urged the United States and Russia to reduce their nuclear arsenal.
US filmmaker Oliver Stone also attended the memorial ceremony in Nagasaki on Friday. He said the widely held belief that the nuclear attacks on Japan ended World War II was a "tremendous lie."

"It's easy to look at the issue simply that Americans dropped the bomb to end World War II because Japanese militarists would not give up... [however], that would be a surface explanation," Stone said.

The bombing of Nagasaki came just three days after the United States dropped another atomic bomb on the western city of Hiroshima in the closing days of World War II.

The US nuclear attack on Japan killed more than 200,000 people.

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