7 yıl önce

First sitting Japanese leader slated to visit Pearl Harbor

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will offer condolences to the victims of the 1941 attack.

Staff Reporter

TRT World and Agencies

The US wheeler army airfield was attacked by the Japanese navy as part of the surprise Pearl Harbor assault in Hawaii in 1941.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fly to Hawaii's Pearl Harbor site on Tuesday, with the message that Japan will never repeat the atrocities of past wars.

The historic visit with President Barack Obama comes 75 years after the US naval base was attacked by Japan. The bombing in 1941 killed 2,400 Americans and thrust the United States into World War Two.

"I hope this visit will be a historical one with leaders of Japan and the United States jointly visiting Pearl Harbor in a show of reconciliation," Abe said.

In May, Obama became the first serving American president to visit Hiroshima, the Japanese city devastated by a US atomic bomb in 1945.

In the past, Japan has struggled to reckon with its wartime history. But Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor is intended to showcase the tight alliance between the former foes.

TRT World 's Jennifer Glasse brings us the latest details.