On August 9, 2006, during a commemoration marking the 61st anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Mayor Itcho Itoh criticized Iran and North Korea for their nuclear programs and faulted the United States for failing to halt nuclear proliferation.
Mayor Itoh told a crowd of mourning people in Nagasaki, "The time has come for those nations that rely on the force of nuclear armaments to respectfully heed the voices of peace-loving people, not least the atomic bomb survivors. The nuclear weapon states have not demonstrated sincerity in their efforts at disarmament. The United States of America in particular has issued a tacit approval of nuclear weapons development by India. At the same time, nuclear weapons declarant North Korea is threatening the peace and security of Japan and the world as a whole. In fact, the very structure of nonproliferation is facing a crisis due to nuclear ambitions by various nations including Pakistan which announced its possession of nuclear arms, Israel which is widely considered to possess them, and Iran.”
On August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am, the United States dropped “Fat Man,” a Plutonium-239 implosion bomb on the city of Nagasaki. It had a yield of approximately 20 kilotons of TNT. Some 35,000 to 40,000 persons died immediately, and a total of some 75,000 persons died from the bombing by the end of 1945.
At the commemoration on August 9, 2006, the names of 2,831 people who died recently were added to the list of victims, bringing the total number recognized by the city to 140,144. A few thousand names are added each year.
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