Kerry 'Won't Apologise' In Hiroshima Visit

Hiroshima was the site of the first of two atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the US in the final days of the Second World War.

Mr Kerry and others laid wreaths at the Peace Park site

US Secretary of State John Kerry will not apologise for the US atomic bomb that killed 140,000 people in the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.

The bomb, on 6 August, was the first of two - the second being dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

Japan surrendered six days after that and the peace park site at Hiroshima became a memorial to Japanese suffering - including displays of victims' charred clothes, a tricycle ridden by a child killed in the blast and statues of victims with flesh melting from their arms.

Many Americans view the bombings as a justified way of ending the war but most Japanese disagree.

A US official confirmed there would be no apology from Mr Kerry for the deaths, as he visited Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park and Museum.

"If you’re asking whether the secretary of state came to Hiroshima to apologise, the answer is no," the official told The Washington Post.

"If you’re asking whether the secretary and I think all Americans and all Japanese are filled with sorrow at the tragedies that befell so many of our countrymen, the answer is yes."

The visit was during a cultural break for foreign ministers from the G7 industrialised nations, a group that also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.

Mr Kerry became the most senior American official to visit the site, while it was also the first visit by foreign ministers from France and Britain.

Before the visit, Mr Kerry said: "I will be pleased to visit later today the Peace Memorial Park... in a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

"And while we will revisit the past and honour those who perished, this trip is not about the past. It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built."

The country will also host the G7 leaders next month, when it is understood Barack Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit the site. Mr Obama has previously said he would be honoured to visit both cities.