G7 leaders laid flowers at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima

G7 leaders laid flowers at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima

G7 leaders laid flowers at a memorial for the victims of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima in a somber opening to a summit overshadowed by fears of a potential nuclear conflict in Ukraine.
As the heavy early morning rain began to abate, the host of the summit, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and his wife, Yuko, welcomed the leaders and their wives at the entrance to the city's Peace Memorial Museum, where they viewed graphic reminders of the attack on the city on August 6, 1945 and its gruesome consequences.
The Japanese leader – whose wife wore a gold brooch in the shape of an origami crane, a symbol of the city's nuclear legacy – has said that achieving a world free of nuclear weapons is his “life work”.

Joe Biden became the second sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, after Barack Obama in 2016, while Rishi Sunak is the British Prime Minister to visit the site of the world's first nuclear attack. It is estimated that between 60.000 and 80.000 people died instantly, but at the end of the year the death toll had risen to 140.000 as others succumbed to burns and illnesses caused by radiation exposure.

The media were barred from the museum for the duration of the visit - amid speculation that the leaders would only visit the east wing of the building, which depicts the dangers of nuclear war, or even pass through the main building , which contains photos of victims with horrific injuries.
The group exited the museum after about 30 minutes and, led by Kishida and Biden, made the short walk to a cenotaph honoring the 333.907 people whose deaths were attributed to the atomic bombing nearly eight decades ago.

Together, leaders came forward to lay wreaths at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima – given to them by local schoolchildren – on podiums in front of the memorial, with its eternal flame and plaque that reads: “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we will not repeat the evil.”

The burnt shell of the atomic bomb dome, one of the few buildings to survive the attack, could be seen in the distance. After a moment of silence, there was a group ceremony to plant a cherry blossom sapling, propagated from a tree that survived the atomic blast. The leaders then met with a hibakusha who survived the bombing.

In one morning steeped in symbolism, this was the first time that the leaders of the G7 countries - including three that possess nuclear weapons - have visited the museum together.

US officials said that Biden, in a repeat of the approach taken by Obama, has no plans to issue an apology – a move that would go poorly in the United States, where the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki are seen as a quick end to the Pacific War.
But he and other leaders saw some of the museum's harrowing exhibits, which included burned and torn clothing, the charred contents of a child's lunch box and strands of human hair from people who suffered radiation exposure.

Kishida, who represents a Hiroshima constituency, said agreements on the need to achieve a world without nuclear weapons were among his goals during the three-day summit, which is expected to be dominated by the war in Ukraine and growing military power and economic system of China.

“We will once again confirm our determination to work towards a world without nuclear weapons and hope to convey to the world our strong determination to protect the free and open international order based on the rule of law”he said Kishida to journalists as he left for Hiroshima.

“I hope that here in Hiroshima, the G7 and the leaders of other countries demonstrate their commitment to peace, which will be remembered in history”.

In line with Kishida's desire to put nuclear weapons at the top of the agenda, the The summit's final communique is expected to criticize Russia for threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his vision of a world without nuclear weapons, gave a speech at Peace Park in 2016 and hugged a hibakusha who survived the atomic bombing. But he spent just 10 minutes in the museum's lobby, where he was shown a small number of symbolic exhibits.

Kishida has sought to move nuclear disarmament to the top of the agenda at this year's summit and reportedly insisted that G7 leaders visit not only the peace memorials, but also the museum.
“I believe that the first step towards any nuclear disarmament effort is to provide first-hand experience of the consequences of the atomic bombing and to firmly convey the reality,” he said before the visit to the peace museum.

There is little enthusiasm for reducing nuclear stockpiles at a time when Russia has issued thinly veiled threats to use them against Ukraine, and as North Korea is raising fears of a new nuclear test after a series of missile launches long range.