"This afternoon I will visit Hiroshima," Obama said at the base.
"This
is an opportunity to honor the memory of all those who were lost in
World War II. It's a chance to pursue peace and security, a world where
nuclear weapons would no longer be necessary. And it's a testament to
how even the most painful divides can be bridged."
The president, who is not expected to
apologize for the American action to hasten the end of World War II,
previously said he would stress the "very real risks" of nuclear
weapons.
Obama's visit to the site
of the devastation that left tens of thousands dead was at least six
years in the making inside the White House.
Japanese
officials had initially discouraged the President from coming, but the
final ground was paved by Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited the
memorial and museum in April and impressed the Japanese with his
remarks.
bama is expected to meet some survivors
of the blast, most of whom were young children at the time their city
was destroyed and at least 140,000 lives were lost.
Officials say Obama won't apologize for the decision to use an atomic bomb however. Nor will Obama say sorry for bombing of Nagasaki days later, where tens of thousands more died.
Such
an apology would be highly controversial in the U.S. and in countries
like China and Korea, which suffered the brunt of Japanese aggression
and atrocities during the war.
Even
as Obama planned his visit, families of the tens of thousands of
Koreans who were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki demanded separate
recognition from the American president.
Obama
said Thursday he hoped to mark Hiroshima as a history-altering moment
-- the U.S. is the only country to have ever used a nuclear bomb -- that
humanity must avoid repeating.
"The
dropping of the atomic bomb, the ushering in of nuclear weapons, was an
inflection point in modern history," Obama said during a news
conference at the G-7 Summit in Japan.
Obama further hopes his appearance at
the site will serve to reinforce his bid to reduce global stockpiles of
nuclear weapons, an effort that's had only moderate strides after seven
years in office.
While he
successfully negotiated a deal for Iran to curb its nuclear program,
North Korea only seems more intent on ramping up its own. And Obama has
been accused of hypocrisy for his proposed trillion-dollar overhaul of
American's own nuclear weapons program.
Why Obama decided to go to Hiroshima
Ahead
of his visit to Hiroshima, Obama visited Marine Corps Air Station
Iwakuni to meet with members of the U.S. military, amid long-simmering
resentments in Japan over the U.S. military presence in the country.
At
a joint press conference late Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe railed against an alleged murder committed by an American civilian
worker stationed on Okinawa, the southern Japanese island that houses a
massive U.S. military presence.
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