Roos to brief Obama on Hiroshima

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009

Roos to brief Obama on Hiroshima

Kyodo News

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos said Tuesday he intends to speak with President Barack Obama about a possible visit to Hiroshima and to convey his impressions from his own visit to the city, which was devastated by an atomic bomb dropped by the United States in World War II.

While noting that any decision to visit is ultimately "up to the president," Roos said in an interview that Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after calling for a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague in April, is deeply committed to disarmament and ending nuclear proliferation, leaving open the possibility of a presidential visit to the symbolic city.

Roos said repeatedly that his visit to Hiroshima on Sunday was "deeply moving" and added that his parents and son went with him.

"I felt that in order to provide him (Obama) my feelings with respect to Hiroshima, it was important that I see the peace memorial, peace park and the museum and witness it myself. It's a powerful statement. I get emotional talking about it. It was a moving experience for my entire family," he said.