On the heels of Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s visit to Hiroshima, the White House said Tuesday that President Obama hasn’t decided whether to visit the site of the world’s first nuclear weapon attack when he travels to Japan next month.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president and his advisers, in weighing such a visit, are not concerned about possible criticism that a presidential trip to the city would be akin to an apology to the Japanese.
“The president will be focused on the policy considerations,” Mr. Earnest said. “Whatever decision he makes and whatever policy decision the administration makes will be consistent with the president’s strong view about the bravery, courage and heroism of those Americans who fought in one World War II, thereby securing the liberty and freedom, not just of the United States, but of human beings around the world.”
Mr. Kerry visited Hiroshima on Monday, the first top U.S. diplomat to do so, and said that “everyone” should travel to the city where U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
The bomb killed about 140,000 people, and a second device dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later soon compelled Japanese leaders to surrender. U.S. officials at the time said the bombings saved the lives of countless U.S. troops by averting the need for a costly ground invasion of Japan.
No sitting U.S. president has visited Hiroshima, but Mr. Obama and his advisers reportedly are considering a visit while he attends a G-7 summit in Japan at Ise-Shima, located about halfway between Tokyo and Hiroshima.
Mr. Earnest said the question arises every time that Mr. Obama visits Japan. Prior to the president’s visit in 2009, then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos told the administration in a diplomatic cable that Japan didn’t think it was a good idea for Mr. Obama to visit Hiroshima or to apologize for using the atomic bomb in World War II.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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