Protest letter against the DPRK nuclear test (May 26, 2009)

May 26, 2009

His Excellency Kim Jong-Il
Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Letter of Protest

I received a report that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has conducted a nuclear test. On behalf of the A-bombed city Hiroshima, I vehemently protest this act.

Hiroshima and our A-bomb survivors have worked long and hard for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and your callous trampling on our hopes is an outrage. Especially now, with global momentum finally mounting toward the abolition of nuclear weapons and the international community working desperately toward a successful NPT Review Conference next year, your test is a wet blanket obstructing these efforts. The international community cannot condone such behavior. Following on the heels of your recent missile test, this provocative act could well accelerate the nuclear programs of nuclear-armed states and other states seeking nuclear arms. Thus, I condemn your test in the strongest possible terms. You have done serious harm to world peace and stability.

I demand that you contemplate more deeply the inhumanity of nuclear weapons; listen conscientiously to the hibakusha, who tell us, “Nuclear weapons are an absolute evil that threaten to extinguish the entire human family;” abandon immediately all nuclear weapons and development programs; return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; develop a diplomatic approach without reliance on nuclear deterrence; and play a sincere and constructive role in good-faith negotiations for universal nuclear disarmament.

Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima