rki.news | Sources Xinhua
TOKYO, Aug. 9 — Japan’s Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on Sunday, as calls for nuclear disarmament grew amid rising geopolitical tensions.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time the atomic bomb exploded over the city on Aug. 9, 1945. The bombing killed about 74,000 people in Nagasaki by the end of that year, while many others suffered lasting effects.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki called nuclear weapons an “absolute evil” and urged the government to uphold Japan’s Constitution and Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reiterated that Japan is “upholding” the three principles, which prohibit possessing, producing or allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan. However, her wording stopped short of explicitly committing to maintaining the principles in the future.
Opposition lawmakers criticized her remarks as lacking a clear long-term commitment. Reports that the government may reconsider the principle banning the introduction of nuclear weapons, along with calls for open discussion of nuclear policy, have raised further concern in Japan.