TOKYO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Nagasaki on Sunday commemorated the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in the closing days of World War II, amid heightened calls for nuclear disarmament against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m. local time, the exact moment when a plutonium atomic bomb dropped by a U.S. bomber exploded over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.
The attack on the southwestern Japanese city came three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the west, and is believed to have killed around 74,000 people in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, while leaving many others suffering from its effects.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki delivered a declaration at the annual memorial ceremony, calling nuclear weapons an "absolute evil" and urging the Japanese government to fulfill its historical responsibility.
He called on the Japanese government to "uphold the ethos of peace enshrined in the Japanese constitution, which embodies a determination to forever renounce war, as well as the country's Three Non-Nuclear Principles."
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also addressed the event, reiterating her ambiguous remarks made at Thursday's Hiroshima memorial ceremony that Japan "is upholding" the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. Her wording differed subtly from that of previous prime ministers, stopping short of explicitly pledging that the country will uphold the principles.
Japan's opposition lawmakers had previously criticized Takaichi's remarks as merely an explanation of the current situation, saying they lacked a clear commitment to maintaining the non-nuclear principles going forward.
Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which prohibit possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were formally adopted by the Japanese parliament in 1971 and have since become the cornerstone of the country's nuclear policy.
Japanese media previously reported that the Takaichi administration was considering revising the principle of not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan as part of the planned revision of the country's three key security documents later this year.
In July, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi publicly said at an online program that Japan should discuss nuclear-related policies without taboo. These developments have fueled continued concern across Japanese society. ■
