PM Shinzo Abe pledges efforts for N-free world on 68th year of Hiroshima bombing

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe today vowed at a ceremony held to mark the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to realise a nuclear-weapons free world, and to give better support to A-bomb survivors who were till this day fighting health problems caused by radiation.

His speech at the Peace Memorial Park near Ground Zero also came as a reaffirmation the country's three-point stand on nuclear weapons, under which the country would not produce or possess nuclear weapons on Japanese territory, as it continued to avoid a repetition of the devastation of atomic warfare.

''We, the Japanese, are the only atomic bombed citizens in war,'' the Japanese premier declared to a 50,000-strong audience at the event. ''We bear the responsibility to steadily realize a world without nuclear weapons,'' Abe said.

Abe's critics, would be quick to point out though, that his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which won a comfortable victory in the recently concluded Upper House election, was made up of politicians who sought to restart Japan's idled nuclear power plants even as they continued to market Japanese nuclear technology abroad. His party was also known to be pushing for changing the nation's pacifist constitution.

Hiroshima mayor, Kazumi Matsui making a similar pledge, called nuclear bombs the "ultimate inhumane weapon and an absolute evil."

Among the 50,000 people that had gathered were survivors and relatives of victims.

The sensitive anniversary comes amid a debate over the role of nuclear energy, following the country's 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster.

Barring some, most of Japan's nuclear power plants have been shut down in the wake of meltdowns at Fukushima, which spread radiation over a large area and forcing thousands to flee.

Though Abe and his party want to restart the plants following safety inspections, public pressure against the move remains strong in the energy-dependent nation.

There have been a number of incidents at the crippled plant that have served to highlight safety concerns. Meanwhile, operators continue to struggle to contain radiation-contaminated water.