EU head shows resolve for WMD abolition in Hiroshima

Jiji Press

13:03 JST, May 14, 2022

HIROSHIMA (Jiji Press) — European Council President Charles Michel expressed his resolve to realize the total abolition of weapons of mass destruction during his visit to the atomic-bombed Japan city of Hiroshima on Friday.

After looking round the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the head of the European Union said he “left the museum seized by an intense determination to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.”

He condemned Russia for threatening to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, describing the move as “shameful and unacceptable.”

Michel, who came to Japan to attend a regular Japan-EU summit, held on Thursday, became the second EU chief to visit Hiroshima after his predecessor, Donald Tusk.

During the tour of the museum, dedicated to showing to the rest of the world the realities of the Aug. 6, 1945 atomic bombing by the United States, Michel was accompanied by Takuo Takigawa, head of the museum.

After signing the visitors’ book, he released a statement stressing that international rules and global institutions for nuclear disarmament and arms control should be protected and strengthened to secure peace and security.

He later laid flowers in front of a cenotaph for victims of the nuclear attack.

Michel also met separately with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Keiko Ogura, an 84-year-old atomic bomb survivor.

“I told President Michel that (the atomic-bombing of) Hiroshima is not a thing of the past,” Ogura said.