Nagasaki marked the 73rd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city Thursday, with its mayor calling for security policies not reliant on nuclear deterrence and pressing Japan to fulfill its "moral obligation" to lead efforts toward a nuclear-free world.
Mayor Tomihisa Taue, in his peace declaration, urged the government to support an international treaty banning nuclear weapons, adopted last year.
"I hereby ask that the government of Japan, the only country to have suffered from the wartime use of nuclear weapons, support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and fulfill its moral obligation to lead the world toward denuclearization," Taue said during the ceremony held at Nagasaki Peace Park.