Nagasaki, Japan, Aug. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- About 6,000 people in Nagasaki city on Monday participated in a commemorative ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing, and called on the Japanese government to reflect on its wrongdoing in the war.

    Addressing the participants including Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito criticized the United States for its insistent pursuit of nuclear deterrence.

    "The nuclear weapons states, and the United States of America in particular, have ignored their international commitments, and have made no change in their unyielding stance on nuclear deterrence. We strongly resent the trampling of the hopes of people worldwide," he read in a statement.

    Ito said he understood the Americans' fear for terrorism, but pointed out that the US policy of continuously conducting nuclear weapons tests can not guarantee a security.

    "We understand your anger and anxiety over the memories of the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Yet, is your security actually enhanced by your government's policies of maintaining 10,000 nuclear weapons, of carrying out repeated subcritical nuclear tests, and of pursuing the development of new 'mini' nuclear weapons? " Ito said.

    Meanwhile, Ito urged the Japanese government to take a soul-searching attitude on the war, and sever the attempt for and relations with nuclear weapons forever.

    "Our country is obliged to deeply reflect on that war and determine not to let the war tragedy strike again due to the government's actions. The government should abide by the war-renouncing constitution, and legalize three principles of not possessing, manufacturing or allowing nuclear arms within Japan's borders," he said.

    Koizumi expressed heart-felt condolence to the A-bomb victims, and pledged to uphold the pacifist constitution and the nuclear weapons-free principles as well as exert effort for the global nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

    On Aug. 9, 1945, Nagasaki became the second Japanese city afterHiroshima to suffer from a US atomic bomb. It lost 70,000 people. Enditem