Nagasaki Commemorates 71st Anniversary of Nuclear Bombing With Minute of Silence

The Japanese city of Nagasaki commemorates on Tuesday the 71st anniversary of the nuclear bombing with a minute of silence.
    
The minute of silence was held at 11:02 local time (02:02 GMT) – the precise time of the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid a wreath to the Nagasaki memorial complex.

“As the only country that suffered a devastating impact of a nuclear war, Japan will continue to call for boosting the non-proliferation regime supporting three non-nuclear principles, will continue its efforts to build the world free of nuclear weapons calling for cooperation of both nuclear and non-nuclear states,” Abe said.

Nagasaki’s Mayor Tomihisa Taue called on world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the horrors of atomic bombings.

In 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9 respectively.

The bombing in Hiroshima killed about 150,000 people, and the raid on Nagasaki claimed the lives of some 70,000 people. The bombings, along with successful Soviet operation against the Kwantung Army, accelerated surrender of Japan, which put an end to the World War II.

Nowadays, a small number of countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
  [sputniknews.com]
9/8/16