The leaders began their visit by stopping at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which contains evidence of the devastation and suffering caused by the US nuclear attack on August 6, 1945.
The leaders of the Group of Seven nations visited Hiroshima on Friday morning in heavy rain to sites commemorating the horrors of devastation caused by an atomic bomb on the Japanese city in 1945, but the move is unlikely to lead to much progress in denuclearization.
Under heavy rain, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida welcomed the heads of state and government of the seven largest industrial democracies, including a number of nuclear powers, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
The Japanese prime minister, accompanied by his wife, who wore a golden pin representing an origami crane that is an international symbol of peace, plans to include nuclear disarmament on the agenda of the summit on Friday.
Kishida, who is descended from a family and a politician from Hiroshima, in his capacity as Secretary of State in 2016, received US President Barack Obama in the city on a historic visit.
He hopes to approve the “Hiroshima Action Plan”, which was revealed in 2022, and calls in particular for a new commitment not to use nuclear weapons, the adoption of transparency in stockpiles and further reduction of arsenals.
The leaders began their visit by stopping at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which contains evidence of the devastation and suffering caused by the US nuclear attack on August 6, 1945.
The media were prevented from entering the museum, amid speculation that the leaders could only visit the eastern wing of the building related to the dangers of nuclear war, or pass through the main building, which contains horrific pictures of the bombing victims and painful effects.
“We will not repeat the evil”
At the end of their visit, which lasted about half an hour, the rain stopped and the sky brightened. School children handed each of the leaders a wreath of roses. The leaders, in turn, laid wreaths simultaneously on the podium in front of the arched concrete dome of the Hiroshima monument with an eternal flame and a plaque that read, “May the souls here rest in peace for we will not repeat evil.”
The leaders laid wreaths at the memorial to the 140,000 people killed by the US atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
After a minute’s silence, a collective ceremony was held to plant seedlings of cherry blossoms cut from a tree that had survived the atomic blast.
Japan’s foreign ministry said the leaders’ visit “deepened their understanding of the reality of nuclear explosions.
The leaders of the G7 countries met Keiko Ogura, who was in her eighth year when the nuclear bomb was dropped, but no details of their conversation with her were revealed.
Masao Ito, 82, who was four years old when the bombing occurred and survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, warned the leaders of the Group of Seven, saying, “If you have nuclear weapons, you may be tempted to use them, and accidents may occur.”
“As long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, your city can become like Hiroshima. Are you ready to accept that?”
But this pause for contemplation remains symbolic, as the United States, the United Kingdom and France possess thousands of nuclear warheads, while a “nuclear umbrella” covers the other members of the Group of Seven, including Japan.
Hopes for progress on disarmament are dimmed by escalating tensions with other nuclear powers such as Russia, North Korea and China.
