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U.S. not likely to adopt “no first use” of nuclear weapons, Hiroshima citizens express disappointment

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

Following reports from U.S. newspapers that the Obama administration will likely not adopt a policy of “no first use” of nuclear weapons, A-bomb survivors and young people in the A-bombed city of Hiroshima voiced anger and disappointment on September 7.

“Nuclear weapons are an absolute evil. This is unacceptable,” said Toshiyuki Mimaki, 74, the vice chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo, chaired by Sunao Tsuboi), expressing anger as he spoke at Hiroshima City Hall, where he was reporting on his visit to the United States to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui.

Mr. Mimaki was invited by a citizens’ group to speak about the reality of the atomic bombing in Washington D.C. last month. He also appealed for the abolition of nuclear weapons with antinuclear groups in front of the White House. Mr. Mimaki went on, “In the United States, voices opposed to nuclear weapons are spreading at the grassroots level. The U.S. government must give serious consideration to these voices and reconsider its policy.”

This past May, President Obama made this appeal in a speech he delivered from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park: “We must have the courage to pursue a world without them (nuclear weapons).” Airi Sakuhara, 17, a resident of Fuchu City and a second-year student at Eishin High School, was invited to attend the ceremony in connection with President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima. Ms. Sakuhara said, “I believe President Obama was thinking about the dignity of life when he was in Hiroshima and feeling responsibility for acting to advance nuclear abolition. I had expected him to move forward with the no-first-use policy.” She added, “It frustrates me that the president is unable to pursue this policy because the people around him are preventing him from taking action.”

In mid-August, there were U.S. newspaper accounts that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had, in fact, conveyed his opposition to the no-first-use policy to a U.S. military official. Kunihiko Sakuma, 71, the chairman of the other Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, stressed, “The stance of the Japanese government is very different from the wish of the A-bomb survivors. I had hoped that President Obama would have understood this wish and decided to implement the no-first-use policy.”

Kazumi Mizumoto, the vice president of the Hiroshima Peace Institute at Hiroshima City University, pointed out, “Even though President Obama considers pursuing a new policy, it looks as if countries like Japan, which depend on the U.S. nuclear umbrella, are trying to obstruct him.” Expressing his concern, he continued, “The no-first-use policy could have been used as a message for strengthening trust with the other nuclear powers for nuclear disarmament as well as for making inroads for denuclearizing North Korea. Quite the opposite of this intention, the fact that this policy is being sidestepped could raise tensions with North Korea.”

(Originally published on September 8, 2016)

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