Advertisement
Advertisement
Barack Obama
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
An estimated 66,000 people were killed immediately when the 1945 atomic bomb hit Hiroshima.

White House hints Obama may be first US president to pay his respects at Hiroshima

A senior White House official has dropped a heavy hint that President Barack Obama could visit Hiroshima before he leaves office.

Barack Obama

A senior White House official has dropped a heavy hint that President Barack Obama could visit Hiroshima before he leaves office. The possibility that Obama will become the first US president to pay his respects at the site of the first atomic bomb attack in history has emerged during the state visit to Washington by Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister.

The Japanese leader expressed "deep remorse" for "actions that brought suffering to the peoples of Asian countries" during the second world war, but he stopped short of the unequivocal apology that other nations in the region, notably China and South Korea, are demanding.

Abe's comments appear to have made their mark with the Obama administration, however, with Vice-President Joe Biden telling reporters that the speech was "much appreciated".

"I thought he made it very clear that there was responsibility on Japan's part," Biden said, adding that Abe's comments had been "very, very tactful and meaningful".

In return, presidential aide Ben Rhodes told NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, that the White House is evaluating the possibility of Obama visiting Hiroshima.

"The US has a profound respect for how meaningful a visit to Hiroshima is to the Japanese people, and particularly the city's residents," Rhodes said.

This August 6 marks the 70th anniversary of the Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress dropping the "Little Boy" uranium bomb on the city, killing an estimated 66,000 people immediately and injuring a further 69,000 people to varying degrees.

The US leader previously expressed a desire to go to Hiroshima in 2009 and the city has extended an invitation to Obama to visit.

In January, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui met with Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Tokyo, to ask that Obama visit the city during 2015 on the grounds that it "will be a significant year".

Kennedy attended the anniversary of the bombing last year, when Matsui called on "all leaders of nuclear-armed nations" to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki "to see what happened with your own eyes".

"If you do, you will be convinced that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil that must no longer be allowed to exist."

And while Obama paying his respects in Hiroshima would be welcomed by everyone in Japan, his presence would inevitably arouse anger in another sector of Japanese society.

On Tuesday, more than 2,500 people demonstrated in front of the offices of the Okinawa Prefectural Government against the planned relocation of the functions of the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to a new site in the prefecture.

Under a plan initially agreed a decade ago, the Marines' Futenma Air Station will be closed down, while a massive development programme on the northeast coast of the island will see the construction of two new runways on reclaimed land off Camp Schwab, as well as the creation of an array of related infrastructure.

Local residents fear an increase in noise pollution and an influx of military personnel, while environmentalists are challenging the national government on the damage the work will cause to the flora and fauna of the region.

Tokyo is, nevertheless, pushing ahead with the project.

Takeshi Onaga, the fiercely anti-base governor of Okinawa, expressed his "strong resentment" to Tokyo and Washington confirming that they intend to push ahead with the transfer, in spite of the wishes of the local residents.

"We will use every means available to us to prevent a new base being built," Onaga said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: White House flags Obama visit to Hiroshima
Post