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| Top What's up around the Prime Minister August, 2004 |
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Prime Minister Attends Hiroshima Memorial Service for the Dead and Peace Memorial Ceremony
About 45,000 participants including atomic bomb victims and bereaved family members attended the ceremony marking the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing. The names of people recognized as atomic victims in the past year were added to the cenotaph, and the participants led by the bereaved family members, representative of the atomic bomb victims and Prime Minister Koizumi offered flowers. The peace bell was rung at 8:15 a.m., when the atomic bomb was dropped, and the participants prayed silently, followed by the "Peace Declaration" delivered by Mr. Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima City and the "Promise for Peace" by child representatives. In the opening address, Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his intention to work sincerely to promote support measures by accurately reflecting on the reality of the aging victims of the atomic bomb, and he said that, as the only nation in human history to be bombed with atomic weapons, "Japan will lead the international community to promote nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and devote itself to abolish nuclear weapons through its enhancement of efforts to call on governments for early ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)."
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| Link: | Address by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Hiroshima Memorial Service for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony |