Hidankyo Member Calls for Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

   New York, April 30 (Jiji Press)--A member of hibakusha atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo on Wednesday called for the elimination of nuclear weapons at the ongoing preparatory meeting for the 2026 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York.
   "Our urgent wish is to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons in our lifetime," said Hiroshi Kanamoto, 80, of Nihon Hidankyo, officially called the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.
   Kanamoto experienced the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945, with his sister when he was 9 months old at a point 2.5 kilometers from the center of the explosion. He said that he was buried in rubbles and covered with his own blood and that his own father came to rescue them.
   The bombing "instantly transformed Hiroshima into a city of death," he said.
   Under the NPT, the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China are obliged to hold negotiations for nuclear disarmament. But the previous two NPT review conferences ended in failure.

(2025/05/01-12:37)