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G7 leaders condemn North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile tests

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ANI London
Last Updated : May 27 2016 | 2:42 PM IST

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the second day of the G7 talks said the group leaders condemn in the strongest terms North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and "strongly demand" that it acts upon international concerns immediately.

"Realising a world free of nuclear weapons is not easy. However, we share the strong will to move forward hand-in-hand, "the Guardian quoted him as saying while speaking about nuclear non-proliferation.

While talks on climate change, refugee crises, economy, terrorism, South China Sea among others were discussed on the session, US President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima has been the most anticipated one.

Abe talking about Obama's visit, said, "In Hiroshima we will express our condolences to all victims of the use of nuclear weapons and send to the world the information on the impact of the use of the atomic bomb."

"And I believe that will be a strong step forward . not to repeat the tragedy that happened.We living today have responsibility to ensure the tragedy will not be repeated. We must build a better world," he added.

Obama ahead of the visit spoke about the city's legacy, saying it was much more than "a reminder of the terrible toll in world war two and the death of innocents across the continents".

He added that the dropping of the bomb, was an inflection point in modern history. It is something that all of us have had to deal with in one way or another."

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Obama will not offer an apology for the US's decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 that killed more than 140,000 people in the city by the end of the year.

Even Japanese officials made it clear they do not expect an apology, while the 183,000 survivors of the attack have conflicting expectations of Obama's visit.

Meanwhile, North Korea has criticised Obama's visit calling it as "childish political calculation" aimed at hiding his identity as a "nuclear war lunatic" determined to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

The second-day of the G7 outreach session - alongside the group of seven leaders from the US, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada is being attended by representatives from Chad, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Laos.

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First Published: May 27 2016 | 2:30 PM IST

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