HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – US Secretary of State, John Kerry, called for renewed efforts to end nuclear threats on Monday (April 11) after becoming the first U.S. secretary of state to pay respects at Hiroshima’s memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack.
Kerry described the museum as a “gut-wrenching” reminder of the need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.
“We came here and drew from the experience of touring in this museum how critical it is that we all apply the lessons of the past to the future and the present. Going through this museum was a reminder of the depth of obligation that every single one of us in public life carries, in fact, every person in position of responsibility carries, to work for peace, to continue the efforts that President Obama and other leaders came together to talk about in Washington a few days at the nuclear security summit,” Kerry told a news conference after a two-day conference of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven most industrialized nations.
Kerry also called U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s suggestion that South Korean and Japan “go nuclear” absurd.
“And I’ll jump ahead of any question that one of you may ask, it is also why any suggestion by any candidate for high public office that we should be building more weapons and giving them to a country like Korea or Japan are absurd on their face and run counter to everything that every president Republican or Democrat alike has tried to achieve ever since World War Two,” Kerry said.
He also responded to speculations US President, Barack Obama, could visit Hiroshima when he travels to Japan for a Group of Seven (G7) summit in May.
“I know that he is invited to do so. I know because he has said so publicly he wants to come to Hiroshima sometime, but whether or not that can work in the next visit I just don’t know,” he said.
Following the visit by Kerry and his G7 counterparts, the foreign ministers issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to building a world without nuclear arms, but said the push had been made more complex by North Korea’s repeated provocations and by the worsening security in Syria and Ukraine.
