Consequently, Obama’s visit to Hiroshima caused some debate in the White House, since many Americans see that the bombings saved many lives of USA servicemen, while the majority in Japan feel the bombings were unjustified in Ngasaki and Hiroshima.
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Two leaders of the Tokyo-based nationwide group told a news conference Thursday that many survivors still want an apology, though they have long avoided an outright demand for one out of fear that it would be counterproductive.
“I suspect there was a pressure [not to seek an apology] to create an atmosphere that would make it easier for Obama to visit Hiroshima”, said Hiroshima survivor Toshiki Fujimori, according to the Associated Press.
Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 people in total.
He said the survivors want Obama to know that their suffering is not limited to immediate damage and visible, physical scars.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, on Wednesday made the comments at a media briefing in response to a question asking if Obama would visit the memorial in Hiroshima commemorating the Koreans killed in the blast that ended World War II.
More than 300,000 Japanese – mostly civilians – were killed from the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and a second A-bomb attack on Nagasaki three days later. Many have remained unmarried and without children because of concerns about birth defects, or have suffered from cancer and other radiation-induced illnesses.
The visit comes amid Obama’s trip to Vietnam and Japan, where is is attending the Group of Seven summit.
The president is expected to visit the site with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and deliver a speech. In a May 17 article about Obama’s visit to the city, Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun reported on the activity of the Korea Atomic Bomb Victim Association, which has chose to send a delegation to Hiroshima.
Washington said he won’t apologize and a meeting with survivors is unlikely.
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Terumi Tanaka, secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A-Bomb and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said Thursday at a Tokyo news conference that survivors and their supporters had put aside long-standing demands that US leaders publicly apologize for the bombings, in order to facilitate Obama’s visit.
