Japan vows against nukes on Hiroshima anniversary

JAPAN: Japan vowed on Monday never to seek atomic weapons and urged nuclear powers to give up their own arsenals 62 years after the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

Some 45,000 people recited silent prayers at 8:15 am, the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns.

Under a scorching sun, people across the western city stopped and observed a minute's silence as a bell echoed at a memorial park, where survivors in their 70s and 80s gathered.

"I have strengthened my determination not to repeat this tragedy," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said against the backdrop of the famous A-bomb dome, a former exhibition hall burned to a skeleton by the bomb's heat.

"I want to renew my promise to maintain the non-nuclear principles," Abe said, referring to Japan's policy of refusing to possess, produce or allow the entry of nuclear weapons on its soil. Some of the conservative premier's top aides last year called for Japan to at least study going nuclear after arch-rival North Korea tested an atomic bomb.

Going nuclear is sacrilege to many people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was flattened by a nuclear bomb that killed another 70,000 people three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba on the anniversary denounced nuclear powers for maintaining their weapons, mentioning the United States by name.

"Human beings are still faced with the crisis of destruction because a limited number of outdated leaders turn their back on the reality of the atomic bombings and the messages of survivors," Akiba said. "The government of Japan," he said, "must say no to the policy of the United States, which is outdated and a mistake."

Tokyo, Monday, AFP.