In pics | Japan marks 78th anniversary of world's first atomic bomb attack in Hiroshima

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been accused of delivering two near-identical speeches to mark the anniversaries of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A plagiarism detection app found that Abe’s speech in Nagasaki on Sunday duplicated 93% of a speech he had delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier, a major newspaper in Japan Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been accused of delivering two near-identical speeches to mark the anniversaries of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A plagiarism detection app found that Abe’s speech in Nagasaki on Sunday duplicated 93% of a speech he had delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier, a major newspaper in Japan Mainichi Shimbun reported. The English-language versions of the speeches on Abe’s official website also show a high degree of duplication, according to The Guardian. The opening paragraph mentions each city’s name, and continues: “I reverently express my sincere condolences to the souls of the great number of atomic bomb victims. I also extend my heartfelt sympathy to those still suffering even now from the after-effects of the atomic bomb.” Aside from the ceremony titles, the passages match word for word. Also read | Japan faces WW2 anniversary in shadow of coronavirus Abe did, however, use different wording when referring to how each city had rebuilt in the years after Japan’s wartime defeat. An estimated 140,000 people died immediately and in the months after the Hiroshima bombing on 6 August 1945, while 74,000 died during and after the attack on Nagasaki three days later. Apart from the cities’ names, the statements’ closing paragraphs used the same wording, with Abe voicing hope for a world “without nuclear weapons”. Also read: 'Unspeakable horror': The tale of attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The apparent decision not to tailor the statements to each city’s experience angered survivors of the bombings, who are known as hibakusha, the Guardian report added. “It’s the same every year,” Koichi Kawano, head of a hibakusha liaison council in Nagasaki, told the Mainichi Shimbun. “He talks gibberish and leaves, as if to say, ‘There you go. Goodbye.’ He just changed the word ‘Hiroshima’ to ‘Nagasaki.’ He’s looking down on A-bomb survivors.”

Japan PM's near-identical speeches in Hiroshima and Nagasaki spark anger

It's been 75 years since America dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. For survivors, the war isn't over yet. Discarded N-treaties, faster missiles, cyber-attacks, and artificial intelligence - the new nuclear threats are greater than before. WION's Palki Sharma tells you why the world isn't any wiser.

Gravitas: 75 Years After Hiroshima | Will new tech raise the threat of nuke war?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in his speech at the ceremony, said Japan is committed to nuclear weapons ban but said a nuclear-free world could not be achieved overnight and that it has to start from dialogue between opposite sides.

Japan: 75 years since first atomic bombing | Hiroshima Bombing Anniversary | Shinzo Abe

Japan marks 75th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing | World War 2 | WION | World News