Obama to visit Hiroshima, first sitting U.S. president to do so

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama will make an historic visit to Hiroshima during a trip to Vietnam and Japan later this month as part of his 10th trip to Asia, the White House said.

Obama will visit Hiroshima with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as part of the president's travels to Vietnam and Japan from May 21 to May 28, the White House said in a statement.

"He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes wrote in a separate blog.

Obama's visit comes as part of a visit May 20-28 to Japan to attend a Group of Seven summit as well as Vietnam, his 10th to the region that has played a large role in the president's strategic "pivot" toward Asia.

A U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 71 years ago at the end of World War Two, and there have been concerns that a U.S. presidential visit would be controversial in the United States if it were seen as an apology.

The bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945 killed thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later.