‘INSULT’

Hiroshima Bomb Survivors Offended by Pearl Harbor Memorial Agreement

Groups representing atom bomb victims asked officials not to sign the peace park deal.

Survivors of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima have expressed anger over a new agreement linking the Japanese city’s peace park with Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui signed a “sister park” agreement Thursday to promote peace and friendship between their respective nations. Representatives of the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II say the agreement is inappropriate given that the Pearl Harbor attack was on a military installation while the nuclear bombs killed tens of thousands of civilians. Some of the survivors’ advocacy groups wrote to Matsui asking him not to sign the agreement because the attacks “are not something that we should forgive each other for. They are historic lessons to learn from and to never repeat,” according to Nikkei Asia. Haruko Moritaki, an atomic bomb survivor, similarly told the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper that the agreement is an “insult.” “The historical backgrounds of the two parks will forever be different,” she added.