Hiroshima marks 69th anniversary of atomic bombing

HIROSHIMA. KAZINFORM Hiroshima marked the 69th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on Wednesday, as survivors of the attack, their descendants, peace activists and dignitaries braved the rain to attend an annual ceremony commemorating the bombing at the city's Peace Memorial Park and pay their respects to those who perished.

At the ceremony, held just a few hundred meters from the hypocenter of the bombing, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to bridge the gap between nuclear weapons states and the rest of the world ahead of next year's review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament regime, Kyodo reports. Matsui refrained from directly addressing in his Peace Declaration the controversial issue of enabling Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, which was approved by Abe's Cabinet last month, instead saying "our government should accept the full weight of the fact that we have avoided war for 69 years thanks to the noble pacifism of the Japanese Constitution."