×

News

Hiroshima prefectural government sends letters to 190 nations, calling on leaders to visit Hiroshima

by Daisuke Neishi, Staff Writer

The Hiroshima prefectural government announced on August 1 that it has sent letters to the leaders of 190 nations urging them to visit Hiroshima. The 190 nations are all members of the United Nations. (Letters were not prepared for the United States, Japan, and North Korea, which has no diplomatic ties with Japan.) Taking advantage of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, the prefecture is calling on the leaders of these nations to gain a better understanding of the consequences of the atomic bombing in an effort to boost momentum for the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.

The letters were signed by Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and invite political leaders to “pay a visit to Hiroshima to broaden their understanding of the tragic consequences brought on by nuclear weapons, and to strengthen their determination toward nuclear abolition.” The text continues, “Upon visiting Hiroshima, one will find that achieving security through nuclear weapons is simply a mythical theory and that any use of nuclear weapons results in a tragic reality.”

The letters to four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council--the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, which are all nuclear powers--were dated July 8, and the others July 29. The letters were translated into English or French and sent to embassies in Japan or foreign ministries.

(Originally published on August 2, 2016)

Archives