Obama "ready to go" Hiroshima. But no apology for the atomic bombs
Several Japanese and US government sources confirm that the American president intends to visit the city, devastated by US hydrogen bombs in 1945. Shinzo Abe will accompany the US leader, and said that they will not seek apology for victims of 'nuclear holocaust.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) - US President Barack Obama is "ready and willing" to visit Hiroshima during his official visit to Japan, scheduled for the end of May. According to sources of the American and Japanese governments, the idea has been in the air for some time, and just needs the official confirmation of Washington. Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, would be the first US president to visit the area devastated by the atomic bombs dropped by his government in 1945.
Yoshihid Suga, Executive Secretary of the Japanese Cabinet, said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "is ready to accompany his guest during this visit, very meaningful in building momentum for a world without nuclear weapons". The tour should take place within the framework of the G7 meeting, due to be held in Mie prefecture on 26 and 27 May.
However, nothing is certain. The election campaign to choose a successor to Obama is in full swing in the United States, and many Americans are convinced that the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a "necessary evil” to end the II World War.
“It’s an extremely delicate matter,” an aide to Abe said. To prevent opposition to a Hiroshima visit by Obama from building in the United States, the Japanese government has told the U.S. side behind the scenes that it will not seek an apology from Obama for the atomic-bomb victims, other sources said.
The Hiroshima nuclear attack on took place on August 6, 1945. this was followed by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9. 140 thousand people died in the seconds after the explosion, with subsequent radiation causing untold victims. According to the Allies it was these two devastations to accelerate the end of World War II, as Japan was the only country of the Axis still fighting.On September 2, 1945, Tokyo signed its unconditional surrender.
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27/12/2016 10:22
