Photo/Illutration U.N. Under-Secretary-General Izumi Nakamitsu, far right, and Japanese U.N. Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki, third from right, attend the “hibaku jumoku" (atomic-bombed trees) planting ceremony at U.N. Headquarters in New York on May 5. (Kyota Tanaka)

NEW YORK—Two saplings of “hibaku jumoku" (atomic-bombed trees) were planted in a garden on the grounds of the U.N. Headquarters here on May 5.

The commemorative trees were planted to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the establishment of the United Nations.

U.N. staff members, as well as officials of the 3rd Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which is currently being held at U.N. Headquarters, attended the ceremony and prayed for peace.

The planting was made possible through the cooperation of Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative, a citizens’ group that donates seeds and saplings of atomic-bombed trees around the world.

According to Junko Shimazu, a member of the group, the two saplings were grown from seeds taken from a persimmon tree located approximately 500 meters from the hypocenter of the 1945 atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

The group had sought to plant saplings from atomic-bombed trees at the U.N. Headquarters since 14 years ago, when it began this initiative.

As this desire has come to fruition, Shimazu said, “I am very thrilled.”

“I hope that young people around the world will recognize the seeds of hope for peace,” she said.

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