SECRETARY-GENERAL SHOCKED BY ASSASSINATION OF NAGASAKI MAYOR;

SAYS ‘CHAMPION OF PEACE’ FOUGHT TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

 

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General has learned with shock and regret of the assassination of Mayor Iccho Itoh of Nagasaki.  As Mayor of the second city that had been destroyed by atomic weapons in 1945, Mayor Itoh was a champion of peace for a world where nuclear war would never happen again.  He was a leader in the international campaign of more than 1,600 Mayors for Peace, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020.  The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to his family and friends, to the citizens of Nagasaki and Japan, to the many who work for a world without nuclear weapons.

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For information media • not an official record