Barack Obama to visit nuclear bomb site in Hiroshima

Barack Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima in Japan later this month, but he will not apologise for the US’ dropping of an atomic bomb on the city in the Second World War, the White House said.

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency in 2009 in part for his commitment to nuclear non proliferation, Mr Obama will visit the site of the world’s first nuclear bomb attack on May 27 with Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe.

With the end of his last term in office approaching in January 2017, Mr Obama will “highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”, the White House said in a statement.