Hiroshima - Japan yesterday marked the 54th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, calling for nuclear disarmament while warning of global threats such as a feared North Korean missile test.
The Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, and the Hiroshima mayor, Mr Tadatoshi Akiba, said the road to eradicating nuclear weapons in a conflict-ridden world would be hard to follow.
But the commemoration of the day the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" bomb on Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people by the end of 1945, was overcast by the new threat in north-east Asia. "If another missile was launched, it would have a grave impact on peace and stability in north-east Asia," Mr Obuchi said.