UNITED State President, Barack Obama, is set to visit Hiroshima after a Group of Seven summit next month, the Nikkei newspaper said, in what would be the first visit by an incumbent US president to the Japanese city devastated by a US nuclear attack 71 years ago.
Citing an unidentified senior U.S. government official, the business daily on Friday said Washington planned to propose to Tokyo a visit by the president on May 27, when the summit wraps up.
Officials at Japan’s foreign ministry and cabinet office could not immediately be reached for comment.
A presidential visit would be controversial in the United States if it were seen as an apology.
A majority of Americans view the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and of the city of Nagasaki three days later, as justified to end the war and save U.S lives. The vast majority of Japanese think the bombings were unjustified.
