US president visits site of America’s first atomic bombing
US President Barack Obama has paid tribute to the victims of America’s first atomic bombing during a visit to Hiroshima, Japan.
Obama, who is the first sitting US president to visit the site of America’s first atomic bombing, arrived in Hiroshima on Friday afternoon local time.
Earlier, he paid a visit to American and Japanese troops at a nearby Marine Corps station in Iwakuni, where he praised the “great” US-Japan alliance.
The US president laid a wreath at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial, paying tribute to the 140,000 people who were killed over 70 years ago when America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II.
Obama, who was accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, spoke of scientific progress which was used against humanity through the making of atomic bombs. Japan's Abe, for his part, attached significance to Obama's trip, saying Obama's visit to Hiroshima will give a "big boost" to efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world.
The US president, who called for a world without nukes, has already rejected to apologize for Washington’s 1945 decision to use a nuclear weapon against Japan on August 6.
Obama’s visit comes amid protests by the Japanese who condemned America’s use of nuclear weapons against their country.
Japanese protesters have also expressed their anger over Obama’s refusal to apologize for the US nuclear strike against Hiroshima and a second attack against the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9.
The atomic bombings left tens of thousands of people dead and flattened the two cities. Figures show as many as 220,000 people were killed by the atomic bombs.
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