Nagasaki holds 65th A-bomb memorial

Japan commemorates the 65th anniversary of the United States’ dropping of an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, three days after its first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

The ceremony started on August 9 around 11:02 a.m., the time of the 1945 bombing, in the southern city of Nagasaki, AP reported on Monday.

Representatives from 32 countries attended the ceremony. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Nagasaki a day before the Hiroshima anniversary. However, the United States did not send a delegation to the event.

The US destroyed Nagasaki by a plutonium bomb three days after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima during the final stages of World War II.

Around 80,000 people were killed in the Nagasaki attack in addition to the 140,000 who were killed in Hiroshima.

Washington has never acceded to Japan’s demands for an apology for the loss of thousands of innocent lives.

This is while efforts to seeking a nuclear weapon-free world free are gaining momentum.

In May, specified timelines necessary to eliminate nuclear weapons were set at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

The proposal was widely supported by non-nuclear weapons states. However, the nuclear states, including the US, France, Russia, the UK, France, and China rejected the proposal.

Commentators believe the rejection by the nuclear powers to take steps toward nuclear disarmament will lead to the emergence of more nuclear states, threatening global security.