13th 'Peace Week in Nagasaki' starts

Aug. 1, Kyodo - A peace group in Nagasaki began the 13th annual ''Peace Week in Nagasaki'' campaign Sunday, planning meetings on peace and social issues such as environmental problems.

For this year's nine-day campaign, the organizers are calling for ''a way back to peace.''

They are concerned that Japan has apparently abandoned its long-held peace policy, in favor of stepped up military cooperation with cooperation with the United States.

The organizers will hold a meeting with South Korean atomic bomb survivor Lee Gang Nyong, who is demanding that the Japanese government take care of atomic-bombing victims now living in South Korea.

During the campaign, they also plan meetings on waste management and recycling, and on government moves to give legal recognition to the Hinomaru and ''Kimigayo,'' Japan's national flag and anthem. The bid is opposed by some who consider the flag and anthem tainted by their association with Japan's militaristic past.

The campaign's last day falls on Aug. 9, the date a U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki 54 years ago.

They will hold a peace meeting at the city's peace park at the bombing's ground zero and visit the ruins of an arms factory the same day.

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