A memorial ceremony was held Monday at the UN headquarters in Vienna for the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 65 years ago.
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us why we must struggle against nuclear weapons," said Annika Thundorg, the spokeswoman for the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
"Given the growing threat of terrorism, we should redouble our efforts" to limit the risks of a nuclear attack, said Klaus Renoldner, who is in charge of security policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Tokyo believes it holds a special responsibility as "Japan is the sole country to have suffered from an atomic bomb" said the country's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Takeshi Nakane.
A Japanese tea ceremony was then held and balloons released while the peace bell located in the courtyard of the UN complex rang.
The United States dropped a uranium bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people, and then three days later dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000.
For the first time the United States sent representatives to the commemoration ceremonies in Japan, which was seen as a reflection of President Barack Obama's push for a world without nuclear weapons.
Copyright 2010 AFP Asian Edition
