Article snippet: TOKYO — Every year in early August, Japanese politicians and peace activists converge on Hiroshima to commemorate the day when the city was devastated by an American atomic bomb. In the famous peace park, the horrors of Japan’s postwar mantra: “Never again.” The familiar reaffirmations of peace were there this year, too, on the 72nd anniversary, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday declaring that Japan, “as the only country to be irradiated in war,” would “firmly advance the movement toward a world without nuclear weapons.” But there was no hiding the tensions straining Japan’s postwar pacifism, as fears over the fast-advancing nuclear program in neighboring North Korea — and political disagreements over how to respond — rose jarringly to the surface. At a news conference after the official memorial ceremony, a forum normally dominated by reflections on the past and appeals for a peaceful future, a reporter prodded Mr. Abe about the alarmingly here-and-now problem of the nuclear ambitions of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un. North Korea’s repeated defiance of a ban on testing missiles and nuclear bombs prompted the United Nations Security Council on Saturday to unanimously adopt a resolution imposing the most stringent sanctions yet against the country. The reporter asked, Should Japan, whose Constitution renounces war, acquire the means to strike North Korean missile sites if an attack on Japan appeared imminent? It is a topic that has occupied policy makers ... Link to the full article to read more
Japan Marks Hiroshima Anniversary, With North Korea on Its Mind - The New York Times
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