Irish foreign minister visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, vows to promote nuclear abolition
Feb. 28, 2017
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer
On February 27, Charles Flanagan, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland, visited the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward, Hiroshima. At the park, he told the press that he will take a proactive stance for abolishing nuclear weapons. Ireland is one of the six non-nuclear nations which proposed a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly last year to begin negotiations for establishing a treaty to ban nuclear arms. The negotiations will start in March.
Responding to a question about how he will engage in the U.N. negotiations, Mr. Flanagan stressed that Ireland, though it is a small nation, has been working very actively and constructively among the member nations of the European Union (EU). He said that his country is making efforts to advance the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.
Invited by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Flanagan arrived in Japan on February 26. On the day of his visit to Hiroshima, he toured the A-bomb Dome, guided by Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. He then offered flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He spent more than 40 minutes at the museum, soberly studying the exhibits, including artifacts of the A-bomb victims like a charred tricycle. He also listened to the account of an A-bomb survivor.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who met with Mr. Flanagan at Hiroshima City Hall, talked about the U.N. resolution and said of the foreign minister, “I hope he will help accelerate this movement to ban nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on February 28, 2017)
On February 27, Charles Flanagan, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland, visited the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward, Hiroshima. At the park, he told the press that he will take a proactive stance for abolishing nuclear weapons. Ireland is one of the six non-nuclear nations which proposed a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly last year to begin negotiations for establishing a treaty to ban nuclear arms. The negotiations will start in March.
Responding to a question about how he will engage in the U.N. negotiations, Mr. Flanagan stressed that Ireland, though it is a small nation, has been working very actively and constructively among the member nations of the European Union (EU). He said that his country is making efforts to advance the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.
Invited by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Flanagan arrived in Japan on February 26. On the day of his visit to Hiroshima, he toured the A-bomb Dome, guided by Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. He then offered flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He spent more than 40 minutes at the museum, soberly studying the exhibits, including artifacts of the A-bomb victims like a charred tricycle. He also listened to the account of an A-bomb survivor.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who met with Mr. Flanagan at Hiroshima City Hall, talked about the U.N. resolution and said of the foreign minister, “I hope he will help accelerate this movement to ban nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on February 28, 2017)
