Hiroshima mayor 'fury' over N.Korea nuclear plans

Posted 06 17 2009 9:44AM

TOKYO (AFP) – The mayor of Hiroshima -- one of the two Japanese cities obliterated by US atom bombs during World War II -- on Sunday denounced North Korea for threatening to build more nuclear weapons, a report said.

"I am furious, with them (North Korea) for defying strong protests from the international community, including Hiroshima, the city attacked in an atomic bombing," mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a statement, as reported by Jiji Press.

"This means a grave challenge for the international community, which can never be forgiveable," Akiba said.

Hiroshima officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.

Akiba's comments came a day after North Korea vowed to build more nuclear bombs and to start enriching uranium for a new atomic weapons programme, after the UN Security Council called for sanctions over its nuclear test.

The 15-member Council voted unanimously Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the North to cripple its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

The North, describing Friday's sanctions resolution as a "vile product" of a US-inspired campaign, said it would never abandon nuclear weapons and would treat any attempt to blockade it as an act of war.

The hardline communist state, in a foreign ministry statement reported by its official news agency, said all new plutonium it extracts would be weaponised.