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U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima this month becoming the first sitting American
leader to do so. The White House has dispelled speculation
the symbolic visit is to apologize for the devastating atomic bombing during World War
Two. Park Jong-hong reports.
After a much heated debate within the White House, it's now official that President Obama
will visit Hiroshima. This itinerary had been controversial as some
feared it would be interpreted as an apology by the U.S. for dropping an atomic bomb on
the city in August 1945,... at the tail end of World War Two.
But the White House made it clear that is not the case and there will be no apology.
"The president intends to visit to send a much more forward looking signal about his
ambition for realizing the goal of a planet without nuclear weapons."
On May 27th, President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will tour the site
of the world's first nuclear bombing. The visit comes as part of Obama's week-long
trip to Asia beginning from May 21st. Prime Minister Abe told reporters he hoped
the visit would become an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to pay tribute to the victims.
While most Japanese see the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as unwarranted, the majority
of Americans see it as justified to end the war and save U.S. lives.
Park Jong-hong, Arirang News.