By Shinya Ajima

NAGASAKI, Aug. 9 Kyodo, People in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have once again expressed hope for the total elimination of nuclear weapons at this year's memorial services to mark the 59th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of their cities.

Despite their enduring desire, there remains a huge -- apparently widening -- gap between the goal of a nuclear-free world and actual efforts by the handful of nuclear powers in the world for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

In this year's peace declarations, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors again criticized the United States, which dropped atomic bombs on the two cities on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, for its pursuit of enhanced nuclear capabilities.

''The egocentric worldview of the U.S. government is reaching extremes,'' Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said, while Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito said the U.S. ''posture of dependence on nuclear weapons'' could hinder efforts for nuclear non-proliferation.

At the annual memorial services in the two cities, the mayors also put pressure on the Japanese government to lead the global antinuclear movement.

Anti-war calls were also highlights of the memorial services this year, which came after Japan's dispatch of troops to Iraq for reconstruction work.

The mayors implicitly warned Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who participated in both memorial services, over his and some other lawmakers' calls for revision of the country's pacifist Constitution.

Koizumi, getting a cool reception and was even booed by some people who attended the memorial service in Hiroshima, reiterated Japan's pacifist position but fell short of promising his government would protect the current Constitution.

Referring to the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, scheduled for next May at the U.N. headquarters in New York, the mayors said they hope the conference will pave the way for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

The main focus of the review conference is to what degree the major declared nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have implemented ''the unequivocal undertaking'' they pledged in the previous 2000 review meeting, said Luis Alfonso de Alba, permanent representatives of Mexico to U.N. organizations in Geneva.

''So far, nuclear-weapon states have completely refused any verification mechanism to enhance the transparency'' of the NPT, Alba said in a speech in Hiroshima.

In 2000, the signatories agreed on 13 steps to implement the NPT, including speedy ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as well as a moratorium on all nuclear explosive tests before the treaty comes into force.

But officials of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration are showing little signs of taking the steps agreed to by the previous administration.

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton spoke of the invalidity of the undertaking earlier this year at preparation committees for next year's NPT review conference, overshadowing the prospect of international controls toward nuclear disarmament and eventual nuclear weapons abolition under the NPT.

The United States launched the Proliferation Security Initiative in May 2003 to interdict the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Japan and nine other countries joined the U.S. initiative, and the membership has since expanded to 15.

The Hiroshima city government has asked the five and two other nuclear weapons states -- India and Pakistan -- as well as North Korea to send government representatives to the A-bomb memorial services this year.

North Korea made no response, while all the other countries, except Russia and Pakistan, declined the invitations.

While admitting the need for nuclear nonproliferation, Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov as well as Pakistani Ambassador to Japan Kamran Niaz justified the possession of nuclear weapons by citing national security concerns.

''There are terrorists as well as country leaders who cannot adequately control nuclear arms,'' Losyukov told reporters in Hiroshima

In a separate press conference, Niaz said that concerns over nuclear proliferation should be addressed ''by those who themselves have thousands of nuclear weapons and…the ability to destroy.''

''The goal of a nuclear weapons-free world is still a long way off,'' U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a written message to the Hiroshima city government.

Facing this situation, Akiba and Ito, who lead the Mayors for Peace, an organization of 611 mayors in 109 countries, are calling for convergence among cities, citizens and nongovernmental organizations around the world.

They are now eyeing utilizing global public opinion in order to ensure Japan is not just the first but also the last country to be subjected to nuclear attacks.

Reading this year's Pledge for Peace before thousands of attendants at the Nagasaki ceremony Monday, Masatoshi Tsunenari, representing A-bomb survivors, cited part of an epitaph for ''children praying for peace.''

''Under the mushroom cloud, I clung to my mother and cried. May the tragedy experienced by the children of Nagasaki never occur again,'' he said.

2004-08-09 19:18:54JST