HIROSHIMA - Regardless of the reason, this cannot be tolerated. A group of A-bomb survivors and others in Hiroshima said on April 13, after it was revealed that the United States conducted subcritical nuclear tests last year, the first such tests under the administration of President Joe Biden.
In Hiroshima, which suffered the atomic bombing during World War II, voices of protest and concern were raised in response to the United States' actions that could worsen the world's nuclear crisis due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Around 45 members of the Hiroshima Peace Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which consists of hibakusha groups and other bodies, gathered in front of the cenotaph for A-bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and protested the subcritical nuclear experiments. They held a banner reading, We strongly protested against all nuclear tests on behalf of the A-bombed city of Hiroshima. Toshiyuki Mimaki, 80, director-general of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, participated in the demonstration and expressed his anger, saying, I want to say, 'Biden, you too? He said that I'm worried that Russia's use of nuclear weapons could be sparked by this. Kunihiko Sakuma, chairman of a separate A-bomb survivors' organization in Hiroshima Prefecture, criticized the move, saying I thought that Mr. Biden would work toward nuclear disarmament. Nuclear powers do not have the viewpoint of abolishing nuclear weapons and only think about how they should possess them. On April 13, the Hiroshima Municipal Government sent a letter of protest to President Biden and the U.S. in the name of Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel. The idea that military forces are the only way to combat the violence committed by military forces is condemned by the United States' actions by stating, "The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to fuel the idea that military forces are the only way to suppress violence committed by military forces." Your country has conducted these tests and shows a firm determination to modernize U.S. nuclear forces. Nuclear tests of any kind are utterly unacceptable. The city demanded that the United States never lose sight of the goal - striving for a world free of nuclear weapons - and taking action for this goal based on reason. On the same day, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum reset its clock Chikyu Heiwa Kanshi Dokei Peace Watch Tower, which indicates the number of days that have passed since the latest nuclear test took place. The clock that was set at 499 days, referring to the November 2020 test under the administration of then U.S. President Donald Trump, was adjusted to indicate 209 days, as the latest subcritical nuclear test was conducted on Sept. 16, 2021.