By KUNA,
Tokyo : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday urged the international community to work together for the abolition of nuclear weapons after touring the world’s first atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima, western Japan.
Rudd is the first Australian prime minister to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, the scene of the first-ever nuclear attack on August 6, 1945. The premier laid a wreath in remembrance of the over 250,000 victims of the blast.
The US atomic bomb was dropped by the Enola Gay B-29 bomber and exploded about 600 meters above the city, killing about 140,000 people instantly at the end of World War II.
“Let the world resolve afresh — from the ashes of this city — to work together for the common mission of peace for this Asia-Pacific century and for a world where one day nuclear weapons are no more,” Rudd wrote in the park’s museum guestbook.
Speaking to reporters, he said, “Hiroshima should cause the world community to resolve afresh that all humankind must exert their every effort for peace in this 21st century.”
Canberra has often worked with Tokyo in promoting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Australian leader arrived in Japan on Sunday for a five-day visit, his first since assuming office in December.
Rudd is said to have picked Hiroshima himself as his first destination in Japan. He is scheduled to head to Kyoto and Nagoya before meeting with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday.