JAPAN, Aug. 06 (Saba) - Representatives from a record 74 states, including the United States, a first-time participant, and the U.N. chief attended a ceremony Friday in Hiroshima to mark the 65th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in World War II, symbolizing a growing international move toward a nuclear weapons-free world.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos became the first U.S. representative to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony in the western Japanese city, while U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon became the first U.N. chief to do so. Representatives of nuclear nations Britain and France also attended for the first time, reports Japanese News Agency (Kyodo).

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said in a press release issued after the memorial that Roos attended the ceremony ''to express respect for all the victims of World War II.''

Ban, who visited the city of Nagasaki, another atomic-bomb-devastated city, the day before his presence at the memorial attended by some 55,000 people, reiterated his call for nuclear abolition.

''Together, we are on a journey from ground zero to Global Zero -- a world free of weapons of mass destruction,'' he said. ''That is the only sane path to a safer world. For as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will live under a nuclear shadow.''

Meanwhile, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba urged the government to legislate into law the three non-nuclear principles against production, possession and introduction of nuclear weapons in Japan, abandon the U.S. nuclear umbrella, and provide comprehensive assistance to the atomic bomb survivors.

After welcoming the attendance of Ban and Roos and representatives from other states, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he hopes to make the atomic bomb survivors ''special ambassadors for denuclearization'' to tell the world about the cruelty of using nuclear weapons and the importance of peace.

He pledged that the Japanese government would actively propose specific measures for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation in forming an international consensus against nuclear weapons, while maintaining the three non-nuclear principles.

Saba