By Shinya Ajima

NAGASAKI, Aug. 9 Kyodo, Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito called on the people of the United States on Monday to join hands and push for the abolition of nuclear arms, as Nagasaki marked the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing on the western Japan city.

Ito, in this year's Peace Declaration, also urged the Japanese government to reinforce its ''non-nuclear'' principles and work on nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula.

''We call upon the citizens of the United States to look squarely at the reality of the tragedies that have unfolded in the wake of the atomic bombings 59 years ago,'' Ito said at a memorial marking the atomic bombing anniversary.

''People of America, the path leading to the long-term survival of the human race unequivocally requires the elimination of nuclear arms,'' he said. ''The time has come to join hands and embark upon this path.''

About 5,500 Japanese and foreign citizens attended the one-hour memorial service at Nagasaki Peace Park in memory of the victims of the Aug. 9, 1945 nuclear attack, which came three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the closing days of World War II.

Among the government dignitaries present at the memorial service were Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Democratic Party of Japan leader Katsuya Okada.

The service began at 10:45 a.m., and a moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on the southwestern Japan port city.

Ito urged Koizumi's government to stick with Japan's pacifist Constitution and enact into law the government's three avowed principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on its soil.

As Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba did last Friday in his city's memorial service, Ito issued a thinly veiled warning to Koizumi and other lawmakers who have argued for a revision of Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.

Taking the podium after Ito, Koizumi reiterated Japan's pacifist position but fell short of promising his government would keep the Constitution intact.

''Japan will make every effort to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons by urging more strongly that governments of other countries quickly ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,'' Koizumi said.

Speaking to reporters after the memorial, Koizumi said, ''Japan will make efforts to terminate nuclear weapons including small-sized arms.''

In the declaration, mayor Ito said the combination of the three nonnuclear principles with nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula would pave the way to a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Northeast Asia.

Meanwhile, the Nagasaki and Hiroshima mayors, who lead Mayors for Peace, an organization of 611 mayors in 109 countries, voiced concern, as well as hope, about the effectiveness of international control of nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

International pressure has been mounting on major nuclear powers -- namely Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- to take more responsibility in playing a leading role in nuclear disarmament. A review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is scheduled to open next May at the United Nations in New York.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki and its immediate aftereffects killed about 74,000 people by the end of 1945, including a number of foreign citizens, mainly Koreans and Chinese, who were in Japan as forced laborers.

Earlier in the morning at a memorial service for the Koreans killed in the Nagasaki bombing, South Korean peace activist Do Yoo Sa urged the Japanese people to raise clearer voices against U.S. nuclear policies.

''Japan is apparently supporting the U.S. global policies although it is the world's sole victim of nuclear attacks,'' said Do, whose mother survived the atomic bombing in Nagasaki.

This year, through July 30, the Nagasaki municipal government added 2,707 people to its list of atomic bomb victims, bringing the total to 134,592.

Survivors of the attack were among the guests, as was Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi, who is in charge of providing government support for the aging radiation victims.

''I pledge to continue to pass on the preciousness of life and peace to the future generations responsible for new societies,'' Masatoshi Tsunenari said before the audience at the ceremony, representing A-bomb victims in Nagasaki.

Thousands of Japanese and foreign peace activists have poured into Nagasaki to deliver their messages after holding rallies in Hiroshima.

Major antinuclear organizations adopted declarations Monday, wrapping up a series of annual events in Nagasaki that began earlier this month in Tokyo and Hiroshima.

2004-08-09 17:04:24JST