HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) The municipal and prefectural governments of Hiroshima have officially asked U.S. President Barack Obama to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in November.
A letter signed by Hiroshima's top officials, including Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki and Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, was mailed to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Friday, the local governments said.
The letter says momentum for nuclear disarmament has been rising since Obama's speech in April last year in Prague, and calls on him to "send out to the world from Hiroshima a fresh resolve for nuclear abolition."
During the three-day gathering in the city of Hiroshima through Nov. 14, attendees including the Dalai Lama and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold discussions under the theme of a world without nuclear weapons.