The Yomiuri Shimbun
The United States will for the first time send a representative to the annual memorial service for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
The planned attendance of a U.S. official apparently reflects the wishes of President Barack Obama, who has called for a world free of nuclear weapons and expressed his desire to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The participation by an official of the United States, the country that dropped atomic bombs on the two cities in the closing days of World War II, likely will be closely watched.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also is scheduled to attend this year's ceremony, which would make him the first U.N. chief to do so.
(Jul. 28, 2010)
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