Ito's plea for a world free of nuclear weapons was less critical of Japan's main ally than the speech earlier this week by his Hiroshima counterpart. That city's mayor accused Washington of worshipping nuclear weapons "as God."
Participants in Saturday's ceremony observed a minute of silence while a bell tolled at 11:02 a.m. . the moment the B-29 bomber Bock's Car dropped the bomb dubbed "Fat Man" on Nagasaki. About 70,000 people were killed in the explosion.
"In an instant, the resulting heat, blast and radiation descended upon Nagasaki and transformed the city into a hell on earth," Ito said.
Thousands of people suffering from related long-term illnesses keep the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan's public eye.
Nagasaki this year added 2,692 people to a list of those who have died from aftereffects, bringing the city's count of the total number of bomb victims to 131,885.
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