Hiroshima: 'Stop ignoring our plea'

'Stop ignoring our plea,' Hiroshima told world leaders yesterday, according to Asahi:

Calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons across the globe, Tadatoshi Akiba, the mayor of this Seto Inland Sea city, described the scene of Aug. 6, 1945, as "hell on Earth."

Yet, he told the roughly 45,000 people gathered at the park near ground zero, the world's political leaders continue to ignore the voices of "conscience"--the many people worldwide who campaign year after year for nuclear weapons to be stamped out.

"Radiation, heat, the blast and their combined effects created a hell on Earth," said Akiba in a Peace Declaration. "Is it acceptable for cities, and especially the innocent children who live in them, to be targeted by nuclear weapons?"

The Japan Times also notes that 1,400 member cities of the Mayors for Peace organization has launched a campaign to promote the world court's recommendation and a project to demand nuclear-weapon states rule out cities as targets of nuclear attack. The Mayors for Peace organization hopes to realize a nuclear-free world by 2020.

Meanwhile, in its editorial, the conservative Daily Yomiuri thinks Hiroshima's peace declaration skirts the new nuclear threat from countries like North Korea.

(Photo: Kyodo Photo/The Japan Times)