Protest letter against the US nuclear test (November 4, 2014)

November 4, 2014

His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama
President
The United States of America

Letter of Protest

Your country conducted nuclear tests on the Z-Machine involving plutonium this September and October at a research facility in New Mexico.

Though the tests did not involve nuclear explosions, they indicate that the United States intends to cling to its nuclear stockpile indefinitely, and such actions are completely unacceptable. The continuation of these tests have betrayed the hopes of the survivors of the atomic bombings and the millions of others who seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, and have given other nuclear-armed countries and those seeking nuclear capabilities an excuse to accelerate their nuclear programs. Moreover, they have made the prospects of the realization of a world without nuclear weapons, which you expressed your commitment to in the 2009 Prague speech, further recede. On behalf of the A-bombed city of Hiroshima, I vehemently protest.

You demonstrated your determination to pursue nuclear disarmament again in your speech of June 2013 in Berlin, and thus you are obliged to lead the United States to become a model of nuclear disarmament. Nonetheless, your country continues to conduct nuclear tests and I feel strong indignation. I urge you to stop betraying our hopes. Please contemplate the agonizing experience of the hibakusha, understand their sincere wish for peace, and strive for the earliest possible realization of a world free from nuclear weapons.

MATSUI Kazumi
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima

November 4, 2014

H.E. Ms. Caroline Kennedy
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the United States of America
Embassy of the United States of America in Japan

Letter of Protest

Your country conducted nuclear tests on the Z-Machine involving plutonium this September and October at a research facility in New Mexico.

Though the tests did not involve nuclear explosions, they indicate that the United States intends to cling to its nuclear stockpile indefinitely, and such actions are completely unacceptable. The continuation of these tests have betrayed the hopes of the survivors of the atomic bombings and the millions of others who seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, and have given other nuclear-armed countries and those seeking nuclear capabilities an excuse to accelerate their nuclear programs. Moreover, they have made the prospects of the realization of a world without nuclear weapons, which President Obama expressed his commitment to in his 2009 Prague speech, further recede. On behalf of the A-bombed city of Hiroshima, I vehemently protest.

President Obama, who demonstrated his determination to pursue nuclear disarmament again in his speech of June 2013 in Berlin, is obliged to lead the United States to become a model of nuclear disarmament. Nonetheless, your country continues to conduct nuclear tests and I feel strong indignation. I urge your country to stop betraying our hopes. Please contemplate the agonizing experience of the hibakusha, understand their sincere wish for peace, and strive for the earliest possible realization of a world free from nuclear weapons.

MATSUI Kazumi
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima

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