Obama To Visit Hiroshima In May: Will He Call For Nuclear Disarmament?


President Barack Obama plans to visit Hiroshima on May 27, following the G7 summit in Japan, according to high-ranking U.S. officials. The historic visit would mark the first time that a sitting U.S. president ever visited the site where the first atomic bomb was dropped at the close of World War II some 70 years ago.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports that highly-placed sources in the Obama administration have revealed that the president intends to visit Hiroshima after the conclusion of the G7 summit. The summit is set to take place on May 26-27, so Obama’s visit to Hiroshima would occur on or after May 27.

hiroshima peace memorial obama
Obama is expected to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, lay a wreath, and give a speech on nuclear disarmament. [Photo by AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko]
According to Nikkei, plans for the visit have not yet been finalized, but the administration hopes to make the final arrangements when the president returns from his tour of the Middle East and Europe. The Japanese government will likely receive an official notification in early May.

The Japan Times confirms that the Japanese government has either not received notification for, or else refuses to confirm, the Hiroshima visit at this time.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told the Japan Times that Tokyo was not participating in joint talks with Washington regarding Obama’s plans during or after the G7 summit. According to Suga, Obama’s plans to visit Hiroshima, or any other site in the country, are “a matter for the U.S. side alone.”

In addition to simply visiting Hiroshima, Nikkei reports that Obama is expected to lay a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and give a speech on the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Secretary of State John Kerry also laid a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park during his historic Hiroshima visit earlier this month. As previously reported by Inquisitr, Kerry was the first sitting U.S. Secretary of State to visit Hiroshima, but he stopped short of apologizing for the bombing.

Kerry also neglected to bow or lower his head during the ceremony, according to Nikkei.

Less than two months after Kerry’s historic visit, Obama would also make history as the first sitting U.S. president to ever visit Hiroshima. It isn’t known whether Obama plans to apologize for the bombing, but U.S. officials told Nikkei that the president does plan to deliver a speech that highlights the importance of stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The speech will specifically address sensitive and difficult relations between Japan, China, and South Korea.

Although Nikkei has not named sources, and no official announcement of the visit has surfaced yet, this would not be the first time that Obama called for nuclear disarmament. Speaking about nuclear disarmament in Prague in 2009, Obama said “as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the U.S. has a moral responsibility to act.”

Whether or not Obama should issue an apology, or even visit Hiroshima at all, is a contentious issue that engenders wildly different opinions on each side of the Pacific. According to the Japan Times, 56 percent of Americans think that the U.S. was justified in dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, while just 14 percent of Japanese citizens share that belief.

According to Politico, Obama himself is staying tight-lipped regarding any potential Hiroshima visit.

“I think you have to wait until I get to Asia to start asking me Asia questions,” Obama told reporter Andy Sharp, in response to a request to clarify the Nikkei report.

Do you think that President Obama should visit Hiroshima after the G7 summit and call for nuclear disarmament, or even apologize for the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or was the Kerry visit enough?

[Photo by AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster]

Share this article: Obama To Visit Hiroshima In May: Will He Call For Nuclear Disarmament?
More from Inquisitr