Hiroshima governor planning to visit former nuclear testing site in Kazakhstan
Sources have told NHK that arrangements are underway for the governor of Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture to visit a former nuclear testing site in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, in mid-July.
They say Governor Yuzaki Hidehiko hopes to visit Kazakhstan's capital Astana to discuss peacebuilding policy and other topics with senior government officials.
The sources say he also plans to travel to the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site in the country's northeast and visit a museum documenting the experiments.
More than 450 nuclear tests were conducted at the site during the Cold War, and an estimated 1.5 million people are believed to have suffered health issues.
Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The country has been working to rid the world of nuclear weapons. In March, it chaired the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
This year marks eight decades since the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War Two.
Analysts say Hiroshima Prefecture hopes the governor's visit will boost relations with Kazakhstan and deepen collaboration in pursuit of the abolition of nuclear weapons.
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