By Shinya Ajima

HIROSHIMA, Aug. 5 Kyodo, Hiroshima on Friday will mark the 59th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city, with the mayor expected to criticize the United States for pursing nuclear capabilities in defiance of international regulations, city officials said Thursday.

In his annual peace declaration, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba is also expected to demand the Japanese government reject moves to revise the country's pacifist Constitution at a ceremony to be attended by thousands of people, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Akiba will call on the U.S. government to respect international rules more and demand it lead efforts by nuclear powers toward the total elimination of nuclear arms.

The mayor is a former Social Democratic Party lawmaker known for opposing constitutional change as well as Japan's dispatch of troops to Iraq for U.S.-led reconstruction work.

He appears willing to challenge Koizumi and senior Liberal Democratic Party politicians inclined to revise the war-renouncing Constitution.

Akiba will also express concern about North Korea's nuclear development program and voice hope for success of the 2005 Review Conference of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The 45-minute ceremony will start at 8 a.m. in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park. Other guests will be Pakistani Ambassador to Japan Kamran Niaz and Alexander Losyukov, Russian envoy to Japan.

U.N. Undersecretary General Nobuyasu Abe will also attend on behalf of Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The Hiroshima City government had asked seven nuclear nations -- Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States -- as well North Korea to send government representatives to the ceremony.

As of Thursday, only Pakistan and Russia had accepted.

2004-08-05 14:22:42JST