UN chief to attend Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon is scheduled to leave for Japan to attend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony early next month, becoming the first UN chief to do so, in a bid to promote progress in the global nuclear disarmament, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in the United Nations on Wednesday.

The secretary-general is planning to visit Japan next week, Nesirky said. "In Tokyo, his first stop, the secretary-general plans to hold meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada."

Afterwards, the secretary-general is scheduled to visit Nagasaki and Hiroshima. "In Hiroshima, he plans to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony, and he will be the first UN secretary- general to attend the ceremony," Nesirky said. "In both cities, the secretary-general will visit memorials to Korean atomic bomb victims."

"The Secretary-General hopes that his visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki will draw attention to the urgent need to achieve global nuclear disarmament," he said. "While in Japan, he will also meet with UN Goodwill Ambassadors in the country, Japanese business leaders, academic leaders and students."

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima, Japan, to press for the early surrender of the Japanese militarists who had for decades waged aggression wars against neighboring countries in Asia. This atomic bomb flattened the city, killing tens of thousands of civilians. Three days later, the United States struck again, on Nagasaki.

On Tuesday, Ban called for further progress on the global disarmament agenda, stressing that getting rid of nuclear weapons is the best way to ensure security for all.

"Let us be clear: the only guarantee of safety, and the only sure protection against the use of such weapons, is their elimination," he said in a message to the Hiroshima Conference for the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by 2020.

Source: Xinhua

"I myself will go there in 10 days' time for this year's peace memorial ceremony, at which I will appeal for urgent steps to advance the disarmament agenda," he told the gathering.