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Chairperson of Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation meets president of Marshall Islands, calls for close cooperation for nuclear abolition

by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer

Majuro, Marshall Islands – Yasuyoshi Komizo, chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, met with Christopher Loeak, president of the Marshall Islands, at the Executive Office of the President in Majuro, the capital, on February 27. Mr. Komizo handed a letter from Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui to the president and called for closer cooperation to abolish nuclear weapons. Mr. Komizo is visiting the Marshall Islands to attend a memorial ceremony for nuclear victims, which is sponsored by the government of the Marshall Islands.

In his letter, Mr. Matsui commended the ceremony as an opportunity to convey to the world what the use of nuclear weapons can do to the earth. Mr. Komizo said that the memorial ceremony should serve as a turning point after which no one else becomes a victim of the damage wrought by radiation.

Mr. Loeak said that it is important to hand down the memories of suffering caused by residual radiation from the “ashes of death,” or radioactive fallout, to younger generations. He added that he looks forward to hearing Hiroshima’s message delivered during the ceremony.

Paying his first official visit to Hiroshima on February 15, President Loeak asked that Mayor Matsui attend the ceremony. Because a regular meeting of the city assembly is now in session, Mr. Matsui dispatched Mr. Komizo to attend on his behalf.

(Originally published on February 28, 2014)

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