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SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKCN0Y11KC
Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima in Japan later this month, but he will not apologize for the United States' dropping of an atomic bomb on the city at the end of World War Two, the White House said on Tuesday.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency in 2009 in part for making nuclear nonproliferation a centerpiece of his agenda, Obama on May 27 will tour the site of the world's first nuclear bombing with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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.
"He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, wrote in a separate blog.
The visit comes as part of a May 21-28 swing through Asia, which will include a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam. The Asia trip seeks to reinforce his geopolitical "pivot" toward the region, though friends and allies there have sometimes questioned Washington's commitment.
The Hiroshima tour will symbolize a new level of reconciliation between former wartime enemies who are now close allies. It will also underscore Obama's efforts to improve U.S.-Japan ties, marked by an Asia-Pacific trade pact as well as cooperation against China's pursuit of maritime claims and the nuclear threat from North Korea.
On the final day of the summit in Japan, Obama and Abe will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park near the spot where a U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb 71 years ago.
I'd like to know your opinion,
PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL
Last night I have to lecture my one of my crew about history when he said U.S. should apologize because of the death and destruction they inflict on Japan.
I said" Are you ******ed?. Did you know blah blah blah..and blah blah etc.etc. so STFU and learn history first before you make a stupid comment...
Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima in Japan later this month, but he will not apologize for the United States' dropping of an atomic bomb on the city at the end of World War Two, the White House said on Tuesday.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency in 2009 in part for making nuclear nonproliferation a centerpiece of his agenda, Obama on May 27 will tour the site of the world's first nuclear bombing with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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.
"He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, wrote in a separate blog.
The visit comes as part of a May 21-28 swing through Asia, which will include a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam. The Asia trip seeks to reinforce his geopolitical "pivot" toward the region, though friends and allies there have sometimes questioned Washington's commitment.
The Hiroshima tour will symbolize a new level of reconciliation between former wartime enemies who are now close allies. It will also underscore Obama's efforts to improve U.S.-Japan ties, marked by an Asia-Pacific trade pact as well as cooperation against China's pursuit of maritime claims and the nuclear threat from North Korea.
On the final day of the summit in Japan, Obama and Abe will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park near the spot where a U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb 71 years ago.
I'd like to know your opinion,
PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL
Last night I have to lecture my one of my crew about history when he said U.S. should apologize because of the death and destruction they inflict on Japan.
I said" Are you ******ed?. Did you know blah blah blah..and blah blah etc.etc. so STFU and learn history first before you make a stupid comment...
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