THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/07/28
U.S., British and French representatives for the first time will attend the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on Aug. 6 to mark the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, sources said.
Senior officials of the Hiroshima city government welcomed the move by the three nuclear powers, saying it could pave the way for U.S. President Barack Obama to become the first U.S. leader to visit the city.
Akihiro Takahashi, a 79-year-old atomic bomb survivor who once headed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, also hailed the countries' expected representation.
"I still harbor hatred for the United States, but I believe that hatred cannot be erased with hatred," he said. "I will give the accounts of my experiences if there is a request."
Takahashi added, "I would like them to turn the ceremony into an occasion in which they not only pray for the people who perished in the atomic bombing but also demonstrate their resolve to rid the world of nuclear weapons."
An official with one of the three embassies in Tokyo said Obama's goal made in a speech in Prague in April 2009 to create a world free of nuclear weapons has fueled the global drive for nuclear disarmament.
But the presence of U.S. representatives at the annual ceremony in Hiroshima could spark controversy in the United States. The country says the use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki accelerated the end of the Pacific War and prevented a prolonged and bloody battle on the Japanese mainland.
France announced it plans to send an acting head of the embassy to the ceremony, while diplomats at the U.S. and British embassies are expected to be present there.
The city of Hiroshima has sent invitations to ambassadors and other dignitaries of seven declared nuclear powers, including India and Pakistan, to attend the ceremony since 1998, following the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan earlier that year.
Representatives of other countries have also been invited since 2005.
Among the nuclear powers, India, Pakistan, Russia and China have sent representatives to the ceremony. Israel, a de facto nuclear power, took part in the ceremony for the first time in 2009.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are also scheduled to attend the Aug. 6 ceremony for the first time.
Ban's visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki represent his recognition of 2010 as the year of nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation, according to U.N. officials.
In April, the United States and Russia signed a new deal on reducing their nuclear arsenals.
The Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) at U.N. headquarters in New York in May was described as a success.
The NPT conference is held every five years.
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