World News: Shinzo Abe to be first Japanese PM to visit Pearl Harbor

0
1436

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is to visit Pearl Harbor, becoming the first leader of his country to go to the US naval base in Hawaii.
Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the base in 1941, killing 2,300 US servicemen and propelling the US into World War Two.
Mr Abe will visit on 27 with US President Barack Obama.
Two days before the 75th anniversary of the attack, the statement, follows a visit by Mr Obama to Hiroshima.
He became the first US president to go to with the Japanese city, where about 150,000 individuals are believed to have been killed in 1945 by a US atomic bomb.
“We must never repeat the disaster of the war. I’d like to send this commitment. At exactly the same time, I would really like to send a message of reconciliation between Japan as well as the US.”
The two leaders will pray for the dead at the site of the attack, before a final summit meeting between them.
The White House said the visit would “showcase the ability of reconciliation that has turned former opponents into the closest of friends, unified by common interests and shared values”.
“Our discussions in Hawaii will be a chance to show the remainder of the world our ever more powerful connections in the future.”
The strike on Pearl Harbor will soon be marked by a remembrance service on a pier overlooking the harbour, in which a moment of silence will likely be held at 07:55 – the time the strike began.