Nearly eight decades after surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, 85-year-old Keiko Ogura had this message for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “You don’t know what a nuclear weapon is, the reality of a nuclear weapon. So come here and see.”
Ogura spoke with ABC News’ Britt Clennett ahead of the arrival of President Joe Biden and other leaders in Hiroshima for the annual G7 leaders’ summit, which is being held in the Japanese city this year amid new nuclear threats from countries including Russia, North Korea and Iran took place.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy planned to meet world leaders at the summit this weekend. His presence in Hiroshima is particularly significant given Putin’s recent decision to move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which borders Ukraine.
Last year, Putin hinted that he could use the weapons in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but later denied this.
“Threats by Russia to use nuclear weapons, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in connection with its aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible,” Biden and the other G7 leaders said in a joint statement on Friday called for a world without nuclear weapons. nuclear weapons.”
Ogura was eight years old when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945, but she says she vividly remembers the events of that day.
“First there was a bright flash, and then shortly after, I couldn’t take it anymore. Because shortly thereafter there was a strong explosion – I mean wind, like a typhoon or tornado. And then I was beaten in the street and “fainted from the blast,” Ogura said. When she opened her eyes, everything was dark; Gradually, she could see her neighborhood was on fire, she said.
Keiko Ogura, 85, is shown during an interview with ABC News’ Britt Clennett in Hiroshima, JapanABC News
According to Japan’s foreign ministry, Ogura met with G7 leaders on Friday during their visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave G7 leaders a private tour of the museum.
According to Japan’s Kyodo News, Kishida later told reporters, “We felt the reality of the atomic bombing and experienced a sobering moment that will be engraved in our hearts. It was historic because it expressed our determination for a world without nuclear weapons.”
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to Japan’s surrender to the Allies and heralded the end of World War II. In Japanese, survivors of the bombings are referred to as “hibakusha”.
During her interview with ABC News, Ogura said this is her message to Biden: “I’m saying you have the power and we need a leader… Under this country that you stand in there have been so many dead souls and such and such, please.” Please feel and imagine it.
An estimated 140,000 people died in the Hiroshima bombing.
“Black rain, radiation contaminated rain, dark color, charcoal gray rain fell on my blouse,” Ogura said.
“Her [the people coming towards her] The skin was hanging off their fingertip and they came like a ghost or a zombie or something… they came to my area and started dying,” Ogura said.
“Recalling those days makes me want to cry,” Ogura continued.
After touring the museum, G7 leaders walked to the always-lit “Flame of Peace” in the surrounding memorial park, laid wreaths and attended a tree-planting ceremony. In the background was the Genbaku Dome, the only structure left standing in the area where the bomb was dropped.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial or Genbaku Dome was the only surviving structure in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945.ABC News
Biden was the second sitting American president to visit the memorial. No US President has apologized for the bombing. The White House said Biden hadn’t planned it either. Biden did not comment publicly during his visit to the memorial and museum.
Ogura added: “I know the fear, the reality, when the nuclear weapon was used and I can’t stand the existence of this evil nuclear weapon, not even a single weapon that exists in this world, on this planet… We have to get over it think.” the future generation.”
ABC News’ Karson Yiu, Anthony Trotter, Gamay Palacios, and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.