Nagasaki marks 73 years since A-bombing as UN chief attends

People sing in front of Peace Memorial Statue at Peace Park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, marking the 73rd anniversary of U.S. bombing on the city. (Takuma Kaneko/Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO — Nagasaki is marking the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing over the city, joined by the head of the United Nations for the first time amid the effort to push forward North Korea’s denuclearization.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all countries to commit to nuclear disarmament and to take concrete steps as he raised concerns about the slowing effort.

He said fears of nuclear war are still present 73 years after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings and that they should never be repeated.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to do more to lead nuclear disarmament around the world.

The bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, was the second U.S. nuclear attack on Japan, killing 70,000 people, three days after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 140,000.  /muf