President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Hiroshima can be attributed to the successful coordination between the leaders of Japan and the United States over the significance of the occasion, which both agreed would be an opportunity to commemorate the victims of World War II.
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Meanwhie, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday told the reporters that the US President is welcome to visit Hirosihma “from the bottom of his heart”, Japan Times reported.
“The President and his team will make this visit knowing that the open recognition of history is essential to understanding our shared past, the forces that shape the world we live in today, and the future that we seek for our children and grandchildren”. According to the president, there’s no better place to deliver the speech than there.
“The goal of his visit should be to make a decision in Hiroshima to take a specific step forward to prevent another [atomic] bombing and ensure lasting peace, as the basis for his leadership in world affairs”, Matsui said.
“Our advance team is preparing to arrive in Japan in just a couple of days”.
With the end of his last term in office approaching in January, Obama will “highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”, the White House said in a statement. All we want is to see him lay flowers at the peace park and lower his head in silence.
The president’s move is bold because he’ll doubtless be criticized for a visit that some will claim is an apology to Japan for the use of the atomic bomb, which killed at least 140,000 people and wounded many thousands more, some of whom died later from post-attack poisoning. “Together with President Obama, I will do my utmost to realize a world without nuclear weapons”. “This would be a first step toward abolishing nuclear weapons”.
Obamas visit comes as the nuclear debate has been percolating in the 2016 campaign to select his successor, with GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump floating the idea of allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire nuclear weapons.
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“We understand that it was arranged under President Obama’s vision for peace and safety through a world free of nuclear weapons”, a Foreign Ministry official said on the condition of anonymity. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest insisted all questions of whether or not Obama should apologize should be left up to “historians”.
