Japan PM in Pearl Harbor trip ‘to comfort souls of the dead’
JAPAN’S Prime Minister is to visit Pearl Harbor 75 years after his country’s devastating attack on the American fleet.
Shinzo Abe said he will join Barack Obama in Hawaii later this month “to console the souls” of the 2,400 US servicemen killed in the raid.
Abe, the first serving Japanese PM to visit the naval base, added: “I would like to show the world the resolve that horrors of war should never be repeated.” Japan launched its airborne attack on December 7, 1941, to destroy US power in the Pacific. It brought America into the Second World War and the defeat of Japan in 1945 after it atom bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mr Obama this year became the first serving US president to visit Hiroshima. He told of his dream of a world that was free from nuclear weapons – but stopped short of making a direct apology.
The White House said: “The two leaders’ visit will showcase the power of reconciliation.”