In a statement to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, President Barack Obama ruled out an apology to the people of Japan for the atomic bombing on the city of Hiroshima perpetrated by the U.S. in 1945, which effectively marks the end of World War II in today’s history books.
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Obama, who is in Vietnam, is coming to Japan later this week for the annual Group of Seven summit, after which he will visit Hiroshima on Friday, becoming the first serving USA president to travel there.
Obama, who is in Vietnam, is coming to Japan later in the week for the annual Group of Seven summit, after which he will visit Hiroshima on Friday.
Obama, in an interview aired Sunday evening in Japan, confirmed that he would not apologize in Hiroshima for the American atomic bombings.
Obama will not apologize, the White House has said.
“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”, Fujimori said.
As a student of Iowa State University, the location where uranium was originally enriched for use in atomic weapons, I am reminded that it is increasingly important for our generation to take a lead in advocating for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The letter to Obama said: “your visit (to Hiroshima) will. sanction the Abe Administration’s anti-historical efforts”.
File photo of victims of the atomic bomb who were thrown clear of a tramcar they were riding into a ditch.
“At a time when, frankly, momentum is stalled, this visit will be an opportunity to reactivate that”, Hiroshima governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told Reuters, adding insistence on an apology might have prevented Obama from making the trip.
We would prefer Obama visit, say, Russian Federation in the time left to him as president.
Obama’s aides counter that he has secured concrete achievements, such as a new nuclear arms control deal with Russian Federation in his first term and last year’s nuclear pact with Iran.
“I do think that one of the reasons the Americans will not issue an apology is simply because the Americans continue to try to exercise hegemony over the entire world and to acknowledge the past crimes of that height would essentially undermine the ….empire’s own legitimacy”, he concluded.
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The Japanese national flag flutters at half-mast in the foreground of the atomic bomb dome at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in western Japan.
