Washington: US President Barack Obama has
said he wants to visit Hiroshima, the city destroyed by the
atomic bomb dropped during the World War II.
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba yesterday told that the
US President wants to visit the city in western Japan.
"I would like to come," Akiba quoted Obama as saying in
response to his request. The president did not refer to the
timing of his possible visit, according to Akiba.
Obama expressed his willingness to go to Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, another city where atom bomb was dropped, during his
trip to Tokyo last November as part of his Asia swing.
The trip, if happens, may become controversial, as the US
thinks dropping atom bombings on the Japanese cities was
necessary.
Akiba said it is important for the US president to
visit Hiroshima at an appropriate time to achieve his stated
goal of making the world free of nuclear weapons.
But he was also hopeful that Obama will visit in November
this year, when the president is likely to travel to Yokohama
for a Pacific Rim summit.
Meanwhile in Tokyo on Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Hirofumi Hirano said that Japan welcomes Obama's remarks as
the world's only nation to be bombed with atomic weapons.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 22, 2010, 20:48