Nagasaki commemorates 69th anniversary of US bombing

Nagasaki: The Japanese city of Nagasaki commemorated the 69th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the
city yesterday.

A memorial service for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing at Nagasaki Peace Park. Pic/AFP

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said that nuclear weapons are a continuing danger that threaten the present and future, and his city will cooperate with the UN and other countries to continue efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons. "The oath prescribed in the Japanese Constitution that Japan shall ‘renounce war' is the founding principle for post-war Japan and Nagasaki," said Tomihisa.

Mayor Tomihisa Taue

To accelerate Japan's surrender in the World War II, the US forces dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 in 1945. On August 15, just six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war, Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Forces.