Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has stopped short of explicitly reaffirming Japan's three non-nuclear principles as the country marked the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Speaking after attending the annual memorial ceremony on Thursday, Takaichi said her government remained committed to Japan's long-standing non-nuclear policy and would pursue "realistic and practical" efforts towards a world without nuclear weapons.
However, she did not directly pledge to uphold the three principles of not producing, possessing or permitting nuclear weapons on Japanese territory, as debate over the policy intensifies amid a changing regional security environment.
Hiroshima remembers
At the ceremony, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons, warning that they continue to be used as "tools of intimidation" in international conflicts.
He said accepting the use of force increased the risk of another Hiroshima or Nagasaki and called for renewed multilateral efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time, marking the exact moment the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of that year.
