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| seven decades for the bombing of Hiroshima |
Shamsu.id - after seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama in May will be the first person who served as US president to visit Hiroshima, where the US dropped the atomic bomb during World War II, decimating cities and blow up the world into the Age Atom.
Obama will visit the site with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a previously scheduled trip to Japan, the White House announced Tuesday.
The President intends to "highlight the commitment to continue to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Obama will not apologize for the bombing, the White House made clear. And Abe says no one expected or required, suggest the visit itself will send a strong message.
"The prime minister is the only country in the world to have suffered atomic attack, and the leader of the only country in the world that has used atomic weapons to fight together will give a tribute to the victims," Abe told reporters Tuesday evening. "I believe that would be a way to respond to atomic bomb survivors and victims who are still sick."
Presidential visit has been widely anticipated since the trip of US Secretary of State John Kerry for Hiroshima anniversary in April. Kerry tour of the museum of peace with other foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations and participate in the annual commemoration ceremony just a few steps from ground zero site.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui praising Obama plans to visit as "a bold decision based on conscience and rationality," adding that he hopes Obama will have the opportunity to hear the stories of the victims'. He also expressed hope the visit would be a "historic first step towards international efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, which is the desire of all mankind."
The US attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, in the last days of World War II, killing 140,000 people and thousands more badly burned. Meanwhile scar generations of Japanese, both physically and mentally, many Americans believe the bombing, along with others in the city of Nagasaki August 9, accelerate the end of the war and saved many other lives. Japan announced it would surrender on 15 August
Divergent views on an act of war forever changed has made the visit of the US president sitting smooth move and arguably politically risky. Former President Jimmy Carter's visit, in 1984, three years after he left office.
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| barack obama visit to Hiroshima to tell the world anti-nuclear |
It took 65 years for the US ambassador to attend the annual memorial service. In the US, officials are always wary that the president's visit could be considered as an apology for the actions that the trust has saved American lives.
Sunao Tsuboi, 91, who survived the bombing and the head of a group of survivors' in the western Japanese city, welcomed the decision.
"The day has finally come," said Tsuboi national television NHK Japan.
"We do not apologize," said Tsuboi. "What we want is to see him lay a wreath at the Peace Garden and lowered his head in silence. It will be the first step towards the elimination of nuclear weapons."
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said he respects Obama for what he sees as a difficult decision.
"I hope that the president would send a strong message, in his own words, to achieve a world without nuclear weapons," Taue said in a statement.
Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action, a group based in the US, said Obama should use the visit to announce specific steps to "bring the world closer to becoming free of nuclear weapons," such as reducing the number of nuclear warheads in reserve.
"Obama will look insincere if the words supports ridding the world of nuclear weapons, while at the same time his administration continues to plan to spend a trillion dollars over 30 years to upgrade nuclear weapons," Martin said in a statement.
At the beginning of his presidency, Obama said he would be honored to make the trip, and the White House has stated often considered the visit a previous trip to Asia. It does not explain why a visit there never came together.
Asked last week whether the president believes an apology is guaranteed, Earnest is direct: "No, he's not."
In a statement posted as the visit was announced, a senior White House official added that the president does not intend to wade into the debate of the past.
"He will not reconsider the decision to use the atomic bomb to end World War II. Instead, it will offer a vision for the future is focused on our future together," said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. "The United States will be eternally proud civic leaders and the men and women of our armed forces who served in World War II for their sacrifice at a time maximum hazards for our country and our world. Cause they just, and we owe them a debt outstanding thank you. "
Obama will be in Japan to attend the Group of 7 economic summit, part of a week-long Asian tour that will also include stops in Vietnam.
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