• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trending:
  • Kashmir
  • Elections
Monday, July 14, 2025

Daily Times

Your right to know

  • HOME
  • Latest
  • Iran-Israel Tensions
  • Pakistan
    • Balochistan
    • Gilgit Baltistan
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
  • World
  • Editorials & Opinions
    • Editorials
    • Op-Eds
    • Commentary / Insight
    • Perspectives
    • Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Featured
    • Blogs
      • Pakistan
      • World
      • Ramblings
      • Lifestyle
      • Culture
      • Sports
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • E-PAPER
    • Lahore
    • Islamabad
    • Karachi

AFP

G7 leaders visit Hiroshima memorial in shadow of new threats

Under a gunmetal sky and driving rain, leaders of some of the world’s most powerful nations gathered in Hiroshima on Friday to confront the horrors of nuclear weapons. G7 leaders, including the heads of nuclear-armed Britain, France and the United States, arrived at the city’s Peace Park to a sodden red carpet welcome from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima.

The Japanese leader — whose wife wore a gold pin shaped like an origami crane, an unofficial symbol of the city’s nuclear legacy — wants to put disarmament on the agenda as the bloc holds three days of talks. Kishida once guided then-US president Barack Obama in the city during his historic visit, and has said achieving a world free of nuclear weapons is his life’s work. But while the scene of leaders, including American President Joe Biden, laying wreaths at Hiroshima’s cenotaph was heavy on symbolism, disarmament talks may be light on substance.

Britain, France and the United States alone possess thousands of warheads, and the bloc’s remaining members — including Japan — are covered by Washington’s “nuclear umbrella”. And there appears to be little appetite to reduce stockpiles elsewhere, with Moscow making thinly veiled threats to use the weapons, China expanding its arsenal and North Korea stoking fears of a new nuclear test with a barrage of missile launches.

Kishida is hoping to convince his counterparts to back his “Hiroshima Action Plan”, unveiled last year, which focuses on transparency around existing stockpiles and a commitment to non-proliferation. The leaders began their visit with a stop at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which contains graphic evidence of the devastation and suffering caused by the US nuclear attack on August 6, 1945.

Media were barred from the museum amid speculation about whether the leaders would visit only the building’s east wing, which describes the dangers of nuclear war, or also pass through the main building, which contains upsetting photos of victims with horrific injuries and heart-rending artefacts including the carbonised tricycle of a child. By the end of their visit, which lasted around half an hour, the rain had stopped and the sky brightened.

Schoolchildren handed each leader a wreath of white flowers that were placed simultaneously on podiums before the arched concrete dome of the Hiroshima cenotaph, with its eternal flame and plaque reading: “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.” After a moment of silence, there was a group ceremony to plant a cherry blossom sapling, propagated from a tree that survived the atomic blast.

Japan’s foreign ministry said the leaders’ visit “deepened their understanding of the reality of the atomic bombings”. The leaders also met with Keiko Ogura, who was eight when the bomb was dropped. She recounted her experience, describing how a flash in the sky had preceded scorching heat, blast waves and deadly radiation.

“Nuclear weapons bring misery and suffering to people for such a long time. That’s what I wanted to tell them. I think I was able to do that,” the 85-year-old told Fuji TV after the meeting. “I think I was able to convey to them how we all… want a world without nuclear weapons.” Speaking to AFP earlier this week, survivor Masao Ito, who was four at the time of the attack, said he had a clear message for the group. “If you have nuclear weapons, you may be tempted to use them, and accidents can happen,” the 82-year-old said. “It’s simply better not to have them.” “As long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, there is a possibility that your city could become like Hiroshima.”

Filed Under: World

Submit a Comment




Primary Sidebar




Latest News

Federal constabulary isn’t a police force, says Talal Chaudhry

Deadly heatwave in Spain claims over 1,100 lives in just two months

PTI’s Zulfi Bukhari set to testify in US over rights abuses in Pakistan

Trump to Putin: End war in 50 days or face crushing sanctions

EU threatens $84B tariffs if US trade talks collapse

Pakistan

Federal constabulary isn’t a police force, says Talal Chaudhry

PTI’s Zulfi Bukhari set to testify in US over rights abuses in Pakistan

Pakistan, Iran & Iraq set up joint body to regulate pilgrim travel

KP govt under fire as ECP pushes for immediate oath-taking

PM vows to expand tax base, ease burden on the poor

More Posts from this Category

Business

Rs165 sugar price agreed, but cities still selling at Rs200/kg

Govt ends net metering, sets new solar buyback rate at Rs11.33

FESCO extends electricity bill payment deadline by seven days

FBR launches easy digital tax returns for salaried class from july 15

Interest rate may drop soon, but SBP holds the key: Aurangzeb

More Posts from this Category

World

Deadly heatwave in Spain claims over 1,100 lives in just two months

Trump to Putin: End war in 50 days or face crushing sanctions

Trump promises ‘major statement’ on Russia as NATO talks heat up

More Posts from this Category




Footer

Home
Lead Stories
Latest News
Editor’s Picks

Culture
Life & Style
Featured
Videos

Editorials
OP-EDS
Commentary
Advertise

Cartoons
Letters
Blogs
Privacy Policy

Contact
Company’s Financials
Investor Information
Terms & Conditions

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube

© 2025 Daily Times. All rights reserved.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.