US President to honor ‘all innocent victims’ in Hiroshima

US President to honor ‘all innocent victims’ in Hiroshima. May. 14, 2016 07:23. by 워싱턴=이승헌, 도쿄=장원재특파원 특파원ddr@donga.com,peacechaos@donga.com.

The White House said President Barack Obama’s visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on May 27 is to honor all innocent victims including Korean victims.

Myles Caggins, the White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman, told reporters on Thursday (local time) that the president’s visit is to honor all innocent victims who were sacrificed during the World War II including the victims of the atomic bomb. Caggins also stressed that this visit should not be interpreted as an apology for the dropping of atomic bombs by the U.S. forces in 1945 but as the reiteration of commitment of the U.S. to creating a "world free of nuclear weapons."

In response, a source from the Korean Foreign Ministry said, “We have discussed this with Washington in advance with regard to President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and informed the U.S. that there were around 20,000 Korean victims there.” According to the source, Washington thanked Seoul for reminding it of the fact that there were Korean victims and it explained that "all innocent victims" mentioned by the NSC spokesman include Korean A-bomb victims.