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Hiroshima marks 73rd anniversary of atomic bombing in WWII
Why it is in news?
- Hiroshima marked the anniversary of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing with a somber ceremony Monday to remember the people killed and injured and a call to eliminate nuclear weapons amid hopes of denuclearizing North Korea.
Historical background
- During the final stage of World War II, the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.
- The United States dropped the bombs after obtaining the consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebec Agreement.
- They remain the only use of nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.
- The U.S. attack on Hiroshima killed 140,000 people, and the bombing of Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 three days later, leading to Japan’s surrender and ending World War II.
- The ethical and legal justification for the bombings is still debated to this day.
- The anniversary comes amid hopes to denuclearize North Korea after Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump made vague aspirational statements of denuclearizing the peninsula when they met in Singapore in June.
Source
The Hindu