Survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have voiced strong opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s directive to resume nuclear weapons testing, calling the move a setback to global disarmament efforts.
Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese survivors’ organization and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, issued a letter of protest to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, stating that the decision “directly contradicts the efforts by nations around the world striving for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and is utterly unacceptable,” according to a copy obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Mayor of Nagasaki also condemned the directive, saying it “trampled on the efforts of people around the world who have been sweating blood and tears to realize a world without nuclear weapons.”
Two additional hibakusha groups based in Hiroshima released statements demanding the cancellation of any planned nuclear tests, declaring: “We strongly protest and firmly demand that no such experiments be conducted.”
The term “hibakusha” refers to survivors of the atomic bombings, many of whom have endured decades of physical and psychological suffering, along with social stigma. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killed over 200,000 people and remain the only instances of nuclear weapons being used in warfare.
