Hiroshima Protests U.S. Subcritical Nuclear Test

October 12, 2018

Hiroshima- Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui on Thursday sent a letter of protest to the United States over its subcritical nuclear test carried out in December last year.

The letter was sent to President Donald Trump and Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty, after recent media reports about the test, conducted in Nevada.

In the letter, Matsui said the U.S. actions are "utterly unacceptable."

The experiment "compels us to believe that the U.S. intends to cling to its nuclear stockpile indefinitely," he also said.

Matsui urged the country to "share in the spirit of Hiroshima, which calls for world peace, and strive for a world without nuclear weapons based on reason."

At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the counter on the "peace clock" that shows the number of days since the latest nuclear test was reset from 403 days to 302 days.

The clock was created in 2001 in protest against repeated nuclear tests.

The counter had not been reset since North Korea's last nuclear test, carried out on Sept. 3, 2017. The latest reset is the 25th.

"I really hope that this is the last time we have to press the button (to reset the number)," said Kenji Shiga, director of the museum. Jiji Press