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Hiroshima City and Hiroshima Prefecture send letters of protest in response to U.S. nuclear test

by Michiko Tanaka and Kazuo Murakami, Staff Writers

The City of Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Hatsukaichi City sent letters of protest to President Barack Obama on October 30 through the United States embassy in Tokyo in response to a new-type nuclear test carried out by that nation.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in his letter that the test raised doubts over Mr. Obama’s commitment to a world without nuclear weapons, which the president called for in a speech made in Prague in 2009. The mayor asked him to ponder the agonizing experience of the survivors and appreciate their sincere desire for peace.

Hidehiko Yuzaki, the governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, stressed that the test is a great disappointment to the world and stirs distrust. He criticized the test for dampening the international community’s momentum for the abolition of nuclear weapons, which has been building recently.

Hatsukaichi Mayor Katsuhiro Shinno said that he is angered by the repeated tests, which shows that the United States is bent on maintaining its nuclear arsenal. He demanded that the United States play a leading role in advancing nuclear abolition.

(Originally published on October 31, 2013)

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