Nearly half the high school students polled in Nagasaki believe U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Hiroshima in late May will not accelerate nuclear disarmament, a survey conducted by a local peace group showed Tuesday.
The survey collected responses from 556 students, and was conducted after Obama on May 27 became the first sitting U.S. leader to visit Hiroshima, which was devastated by a nuclear bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
While 49.6 percent said the speech will not lead to progress in the abolition of nuclear arms, 47.8 said it will, according to the survey.
Regarding what they expect from Obama, 75.5 percent said they want him to promote the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Some 71.2 percent of students said they want Obama to also visit Nagasaki, where the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days after the attack on Hiroshima.
Imari Yasuno, 16-year-old member of the peace group, said the results apparently reflected a view among students that "concrete steps have not been presented" in Obama's speech.