Barack Obama makes historic Hiroshima visit

BBC.COM | Friday May 27, 2016 11:15

 

Mr Obama flew into the Iwakuni US base nearby, after leaving the G7 summit.

He said his visit was 'a testament to how even the most painful of divides can be bridged'. But he also says he will not be apologising for the attack.

At least 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, in what was the world's first nuclear bombing.

Two days later a second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 74,000.

Television footage showed Mr Obama arriving and entering the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

He then walked to the Peace Memorial Park, accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Both men stood in front of the eternal flame.

Mr Obama laid his wreath first, followed by Mr Abe.

Mr Obama earlier told service personnel at the Iwakuni Marine Corp base, some 40km (25 miles) from Hiroshima: 'This is an opportunity to honour the memory of all who were lost during World War Two.

'It's a chance to reaffirm our commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a [world] where nuclear weapons would no longer be necessary.'

Mr Obama praised the US-Japan alliance as 'one of the strongest in the world', with his visit showing how 'two nations, former adversaries, cannot just become partners, but become the best of friends'.

Many in the US believe the use of the nuclear bomb, though devastating, was right, because it forced Japan to surrender, bringing an end to World War Two.

The daughter of one survivor, who was visiting the memorial on Friday, said the suffering had 'carried on over the generations'.

'That is what I want President Obama to know,' Han Jeong-soon, 58, told the Associated Press. 'I want him to understand our sufferings.'

Seiki Sato, whose father was orphaned by the bomb, told the New York Times: 'We Japanese did terrible, terrible things all over Asia. That is true. And we Japanese should say we are sorry because we are so ashamed, and we have not apologised sincerely to all these Asian countries. But the dropping of the atomic bomb was completely evil.'