Jul 28 08:05 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - WASHINGTON, July 28 (Kyodo) — The State Department said Wednesday that U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos will attend an annual ceremony in Hiroshima to commemorate the 1945 atomic bombing of the city on Aug. 6, becoming the first U.S. government representative to be sent to the event.
"Ambassador John Roos will represent the United States at the August 6th Hiroshima Peace Memorial to express respect for all of the victims of World War II," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told a news conference.
Asked if the decision to send a U.S. representative to the event has any special meaning, Crowley said, "We thought it was the right thing to do."
The spokesman declined to say whether Roos will also attend the A-bomb memorial service in Nagasaki on Aug. 9.
The announcement came as U.S. President Barack Obama pushes hard for a world without nuclear weapons.
The city of Hiroshima has been asking nuclear-weapon states to send representatives to the annual ceremony since 1988.
Roos, who has close ties to Obama, is said to be able to directly advise him.
Expectations are rising in Japan that Obama may visit Hiroshima when he travels to the country in November to attend a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.
Obama sounded positive about visiting the city when he met with Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba at the White House in January, and was quoted by Akiba as telling him, "I would like to come."
Roos visited Hiroshima last October and toured the Peace Memorial Park and the A-Bomb Dome, a symbol of the devastation caused by the nuclear explosion.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will become the first U.N. chief to attend the memorial service in Hiroshima, and will deliver a speech there.
Posts
