President Barack Obama’s trip to Japan later this month will include a stop in the city of Hiroshima, the White House announced Tuesday. This will make him the first serving U.S. president to visit the site of the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic bomb strike.
Obama “will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” according to a White House statement covering the president’s May 21-28 trip to Vietnam and Japan.
In a separate statement, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama would visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 27. Rhodes said Obama would not address the thorny question of whether the United States made the correct decision to drop atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end World War II. “Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future,” Rhodes stated.
Shortly after coming into office, Obama laid out an ambitious nuclear nonproliferation plan during an April 2009 speech in Prague. His administration since then has sealed a new nuclear arms reduction with Russia and led a series of global summits aimed at strengthening security of nuclear and radiological materials. However, a number of goals remained unfulfilled, including U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and additional nuclear stockpile reductions with Russia.
Abe, speaking to Japanese broadcaster NTV on Tuesday, avoided suggesting Obama would offer any apology for the atomic bombings on behalf of the United States. “I believe this will add great strength to getting closer to a world without nuclear weapons,” he said. “And to realize such a world, I hope to do my utmost, together with President Obama.”
