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Hiroshima mayor to ask U.S. president-elect Trump to visit Hiroshima

by Gosuke Nagahisa and Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writers

On November 9, an A-bomb survivor in Hiroshima urged Donald Trump, the president-elect from the Republican Party who will become the next leader of the nuclear superpower, to take action for nuclear abolition. The survivor also expressed concerns over the provocative statements Mr. Trump has made with regard to nuclear policy. Meanwhile, the City of Hiroshima is poised to ask Mr. Trump to visit the A-bombed city of Hiroshima, as President Barack Obama did this past May.

Sunao Tsuboi, 91, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, held a press conference in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, and said, “Regarding the nuclear issue, I would like Mr. Trump to take a position from the perspective of humanity. I don’t believe that the idea of nuclear deterrence can bring about peace.”

When Mr. Obama ran for president, he pledged to pursue the vision of “a world without nuclear weapons” and outlined a plan for nuclear disarmament in the speech he made in Prague in April 2009, soon after his inauguration. The people of the A-bombed city responded with high hopes. Mr. Trump, however, has made a series of controversial statements, such as indicating that he would condone a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea and suggesting that nuclear weapons could be used against terrorist organizations.

Mr. Tsuboi said, “I will continue to speak out. I have no intention of giving in when it comes to nuclear weapons.”

Kunihiko Sakuma, 72, the chair of the other Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, spoke to the Chugoku Shimbun and said, “I have to assume that Mr. Trump says such things because he isn’t familiar with nuclear weapons. We will continue to call for nuclear weapons to be abolished. That stance will never change.”

The people of the A-bombed city, including members of both factions of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, public officials, and citizens, were persistent in urging President Obama to understand the reality of the atomic bombing in order to fortify his desire for nuclear abolition. Following these efforts, Mr. Obama paid a visit to Hiroshima in May 2016, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. After Mr. Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui commented that he will urge Mr. Trump to visit Hiroshima, too, saying, “I hope Mr. Trump will move away from the idea of relying on nuclear weapons and will take concrete action for a world without them.”

Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and the secretary-general of Mayors for Peace (for which Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui serves as president), spoke about the future role of the A-bombed city by saying, “We would like to accelerate the efforts being made by the international community for a world without nuclear weapons by working with President Obama, after he leaves office, and others.”

(Originally published on November 10, 2016)

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