U.S. President Barack Obama does not believe that his country owes Japan a formal apology for the 1945 nuclear bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday.
"No, he does not," said Earnest at a press conference when asked whether Obama thinks Japan deserves an apology for the bombing in 1945.
Earnest also said that Obama is yet to decide whether to officially visit Hiroshima when he is in Japan in late May for a Group of Seven (G7) summit.
In April, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, along with other G7 foreign ministers.
Kerry was the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the A-bombed city, and Tokyo is hoping Kerry's visit could spur a visit by Obama.
A U.S. bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and another nuclear bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later, killing tens of thousands of people.
The bombings, which remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history, were thought to be instrumental in forcing the Japanese surrender in World War II.
Japan has been ceaselessly emphasizing its identity as the world's sole victim of nuclear bombs, but has yet to thoroughly reflect on the root cause of the tragedy -- its militaristic aggression and brutal violence against other countries.
