Hidankyo Official Calls A-Bombs Devil's Weapons in NPT Speech

New York, May 1 (Jiji Press)--Jiro Hamasumi, secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, delivered a speech at the 2026 review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York on Friday, saying that atomic bombs are "weapons of the devil that cannot coexist with humanity."

Hamasumi, 80, was exposed to the atomic bomb that hit the western Japan city of Hiroshima while still in his mother's womb.

"No more war, no more hibakusha," he cited a phrase from the landmark speech by then Hidankyo official Senji Yamaguchi at the 1982 U.N. special session on disarmament.

"Nuclear weapons were used because we went to war," Hamasumi stressed. "We must not wage war."

At the ongoing conference, the mayors of the atomic-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as representatives from the namesake prefectures, also delivered speeches.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]