Kazakhstan official visits Hiroshima, urges unity with Japan for nuclear abolition
Nov. 26, 2010
by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer
On November 22, Oral Mukhamedzhanov, the chair of the Mazhilis (Lower House) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, where the former Soviet Union maintained a nuclear test site, visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and linked the nuclear damage in his nation with the A-bombed city of Hiroshima.
Mr. Mukhamedzhanov was visiting Japan at the invitation of Japan’s House of Representatives. He offered a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and toured Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, guided by Koichiro Maeda, director of the museum. He viewed artifacts which convey the horror of the atomic bombing and said he was shocked to see such cruelty with his own eyes.
Afterward, Mr. Mukhamedzhanov served as a speaker at a gathering organized by Hiroshima University, which was held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima. Addressing the audience, he said that Japan and Kazakhstan should join forces and appeal for nuclear abolition until nuclear arms are eliminated from the world.
In the city of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) in Kazakhstan, 450 nuclear tests were conducted by the year 1989, exposing more than one million people to radiation. Based on this experience, Kazakhstan, after its independence, abandoned the nuclear weapons that had been deployed by the former Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was also engaged in the establishment of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, which went into force last year.
(Originally published on November 23, 2010)
On November 22, Oral Mukhamedzhanov, the chair of the Mazhilis (Lower House) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, where the former Soviet Union maintained a nuclear test site, visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and linked the nuclear damage in his nation with the A-bombed city of Hiroshima.
Mr. Mukhamedzhanov was visiting Japan at the invitation of Japan’s House of Representatives. He offered a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and toured Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, guided by Koichiro Maeda, director of the museum. He viewed artifacts which convey the horror of the atomic bombing and said he was shocked to see such cruelty with his own eyes.
Afterward, Mr. Mukhamedzhanov served as a speaker at a gathering organized by Hiroshima University, which was held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima. Addressing the audience, he said that Japan and Kazakhstan should join forces and appeal for nuclear abolition until nuclear arms are eliminated from the world.
In the city of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) in Kazakhstan, 450 nuclear tests were conducted by the year 1989, exposing more than one million people to radiation. Based on this experience, Kazakhstan, after its independence, abandoned the nuclear weapons that had been deployed by the former Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was also engaged in the establishment of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, which went into force last year.
(Originally published on November 23, 2010)
