“The memory of the morning of August 6, 1945 must never fade”, he said in a speech after laying a wreath to commemorate the victims.
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Barack Obama on Friday became the first sitting USA president to visit Hiroshima, where he called for a “world without nuclear weapons” during his remarks at the city’s Peace Memorial Park. He remembered those lost in that devastating conflict and joined with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in calling for renewed attention to the task of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Over 120,000 people were killed by the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Obama said that he does not want to see them used again, notes The Washington Post.
“Seventy-one years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed”, Obama said.
“We come to Hiroshima to ponder the awful forces unleashed in the not so distant past”. We come to ponder a awful force unleashed in the not-so-distant past.
“We do not need apologies”, Tsuboi added.
Japanese President Abe said Obama’s visit, during which he did not apologize to Japan on behalf of the United States, was visit courageous and long-awaited.
Earlier, Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where tattered clothes worn by victims, among other items and records to show the atrocity brought about by the atomic weapon, are on display.
Obama previously said he would not apologize for the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Some Japanese bomb victim organizations have long called for an apology, viewing the use of atomic weapons as inhumane. President Truman saw their use as the best way to shorten World War II, and he stood by his decision to order their use for the rest of his life.
The South Korean government expressed appreciation Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama said in a speech that many Koreans were among victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima when he visited the western Japanese city. “Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons”, Obama wrote.
Obama touched down in Hiroshima after completing talks with world leaders at an global summit in Shima, Japan.
“The president gestured as if he was going to give me a hug, so we hugged”, Mori told reporters afterwards. He and Abe were scheduled to tour the memorial park and speak with three bombing survivors.
No American veterans or former prisoners of war were invited to the ceremony. A U.S.
Obama’s visit drew raves on social media and from the numerous thousands who turned up to witness the historic event.
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Supporters said that was a missed opportunity. The iconic, skeletal Genbaku Dome (A-bomb Dome), the only building left standing at the hypocenter of the blast, is a grim reminder of the overwhelmingly destructive power of the 20th century weapon that has cast an uneasy shadow over the lives of millions across the globe for more than 70 years. He shared an emotional embrace with Shigeaki Mori, a 79-year-old survivor who worked for four decades to gain official recognition of the 12 Americans killed in the bombing.
