Nobel Peace Prize will show that nuclear weapons can be abolished, winner says

Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

The head of Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo said on Friday (September 11, 2024) that the group’s win of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize would give a major boost to its efforts to demonstrate that the abolition of nuclear weapons was possible.

“It would be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons can be achieved,” Nihon Hidankyo head Toshiyuki Mimaki told a news conference in Hiroshima, site of the Aug. 6, 1945 atomic bombing during World War Two.

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“Nuclear weapons should absolutely be abolished,” he said.

He further expressed his surprise at being given the award for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

“Never did I dream this could happen,” Mr. Mimaki said.