US President Obama to make historic first presidential visit to Hiroshima

10 May, Washington

US President Barack Obama is to visit Hiroshima this month – the first serving President to travel to the Japanese city, which was hit by a US nuclear attack in 1945. The visit will be part of an Asian trip that will also take in Vietnam.

The Hiroshima bombing on 6 August 1945 killed 140,000 people. Along with a second bombing on Nagasaki – it is credited with ending World War Two.

Jimmy Carter has visited Hiroshima, but after the end of his Presidency.

A statement from Obama’s press secretary read the President will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons.

The President’s communications adviser, Ben Rhodes, said Obama would not revisit the use of the atomic bomb in World War Two but would “offer a forward-looking vision focused on the shared future.

Obama will also take part in the G7 summit in Japan’s Ise-Shima peninsula.