US Apology for Bombing Japan to 'Facilitate' Prohibition of Nukes

Official apologies from Washington for the nuclear bombings of Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could help launch talks on a global prohibition of nuclear weapons, the coordinator of the Disarmament Working Group at the World Future Council foundation told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Yulia Shamporova — On August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb that killed about 140,000 people in Hiroshima. A second bombing followed three days later, this time on the city of Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people.

"An apology would be practical steps by the US to start negotiations for the achievement of the universal prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons," Rob van Riet said.

He added that "the call of the survivors of the atomic bombings [of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] — the hibakusha — for a world free of nuclear weapons has gone unanswered for seventy years now."

Van Riet stressed that no one should ever suffer like the Japanese people did.

Earlier in the day, a Populus poll conducted in Japan exclusively for Sputnik revealed that some 60 percent of respondents thought that Washington must officially apologize to the victims of the nuclear bombings, while only 11 percent said that an apology was not necessary.

The vast majority of Japanese — 74 percent of those polled by a Populus for Sputnik — believe that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not justified as it was apparent there would be massive civilian casualties.

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,004 adults aged 18-64 in Japan between 29 July — 2 August, 2015. Surveys were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all Japanese adults. Populus is a founder member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.