Prime minister of Lithuania visits Hiroshima, hopes A-bomb tragedy will never happen again
Oct. 12, 2018
by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer
On October 11, Saulius Skvernelis, the prime minister of Lithuania, paid his first visit to the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. He laid a flower wreath at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and said that the world must choose a path of peace so that a tragedy like Hiroshima will never happen again.
Mr. Skvernelis first met with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui then offered the wreath of flowers at the cenotaph to pay his respects to the A-bomb victims. He also visited the Peace Memorial Museum, located in the park, and looked closely at the computer graphics display that depicts the devastated landscape of the city in the aftermath of the atomic bombing. In the museum’s guestbook, he wrote that we must think of future generations and do no damage to the earth.
After touring the museum, Mr. Skvernelis took questions from the media and said that the nations of the world must work together and maintain the position of not producing nuclear arms, adding that he hopes there will be no more new nuclear nations in the future. Regarding the fact that Lithuania has not yet signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, he said that Lithuania’s Constitution states clearly that weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, are prohibited and that his nation is opposed to the production or use of nuclear weapons. But he did not specify Lithuania’s policy with respect to its actions toward the treaty.
(Originally published on October 12, 2018)
On October 11, Saulius Skvernelis, the prime minister of Lithuania, paid his first visit to the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. He laid a flower wreath at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and said that the world must choose a path of peace so that a tragedy like Hiroshima will never happen again.
Mr. Skvernelis first met with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui then offered the wreath of flowers at the cenotaph to pay his respects to the A-bomb victims. He also visited the Peace Memorial Museum, located in the park, and looked closely at the computer graphics display that depicts the devastated landscape of the city in the aftermath of the atomic bombing. In the museum’s guestbook, he wrote that we must think of future generations and do no damage to the earth.
After touring the museum, Mr. Skvernelis took questions from the media and said that the nations of the world must work together and maintain the position of not producing nuclear arms, adding that he hopes there will be no more new nuclear nations in the future. Regarding the fact that Lithuania has not yet signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, he said that Lithuania’s Constitution states clearly that weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, are prohibited and that his nation is opposed to the production or use of nuclear weapons. But he did not specify Lithuania’s policy with respect to its actions toward the treaty.
(Originally published on October 12, 2018)
