U.S. President Barack Obama is wrestling with the possibility of visiting Hiroshima when Japan hosts the G7 leaders meeting in May.
The White House's confirmation that Obama's visit is being considered is drawing keen attention since no sitting U.S. President has ever visited the city destroyed by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.
During a visit earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that everybody should visit Hiroshima. But a visit by a sitting U.S. President is a highly sensitive issue within and outside the U.S because it could be interpreted as an apology for the attacks.
It could also be viewed as a sign of U.S. support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's historical revisionism. It would be the wise decision for Obama to stay away from Hiroshima while in office to avoid misunderstandings.
There is an equally important factor the White House should consider before finalizing Obama's Hiroshima visit, and that is how Korea and other countries that suffered under Japan's wartime atrocities will react to such an occasion.
More than 70 years after the end of Japan's colonial rule, Korea is still engaged in a history war with Japan over many complex issues, such as the questionable recruitment of the so-called comfort women, the territorial row over Dokdo and Japan's textbooks that whitewash its wartime atrocities.
Many Koreans will feel uneasy about seeing a sitting U.S. president visit Hiroshima as Japan continues to deny its history of aggression.
The White House said that a visit would be in line with President Obama's pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons. His press secretary Josh Earnest elaborated during a recent press briefing that "there's no more powerful illustration of that commitment than for the president to visit the city where an atomic weapon was first used." We urge President Obama to fully review the implications of his visit to Hiroshima in consideration for the relevant countries before he makes his final decision.
The White House's confirmation that Obama's visit is being considered is drawing keen attention since no sitting U.S. President has ever visited the city destroyed by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.
During a visit earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that everybody should visit Hiroshima. But a visit by a sitting U.S. President is a highly sensitive issue within and outside the U.S because it could be interpreted as an apology for the attacks.
It could also be viewed as a sign of U.S. support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's historical revisionism. It would be the wise decision for Obama to stay away from Hiroshima while in office to avoid misunderstandings.
There is an equally important factor the White House should consider before finalizing Obama's Hiroshima visit, and that is how Korea and other countries that suffered under Japan's wartime atrocities will react to such an occasion.
More than 70 years after the end of Japan's colonial rule, Korea is still engaged in a history war with Japan over many complex issues, such as the questionable recruitment of the so-called comfort women, the territorial row over Dokdo and Japan's textbooks that whitewash its wartime atrocities.
Many Koreans will feel uneasy about seeing a sitting U.S. president visit Hiroshima as Japan continues to deny its history of aggression.
The White House said that a visit would be in line with President Obama's pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons. His press secretary Josh Earnest elaborated during a recent press briefing that "there's no more powerful illustration of that commitment than for the president to visit the city where an atomic weapon was first used." We urge President Obama to fully review the implications of his visit to Hiroshima in consideration for the relevant countries before he makes his final decision.
