Obama mentions Korean A-bomb victims in Hiroshima speech

WASHINGTON, May 27 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan as he made a landmark visit to Hiroshima for the first time as a sitting American president since the bombings.

"Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner," Obama said in a speech after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

Obama's mention of Korean A-bomb victims, which also marked the first time for a U.S. president to do so, was seen as an effort to underscore the point that the visit is aimed at honoring all victims of the atomic bombings and does not represent an apology to Japan.

Obama's visit has also been a focus of attention in South Korea amid concern that it could dilute Japan's wartime aggression by making the country look like a victim. Calls have risen in South Korea that Obama's visit to the peace park should include a stop at a monument honoring Korean victims.

But Obama stopped short of visiting the Korean cenotaph.

On Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, killing some 140,000, including some 20,000 Koreans. The U.S. dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki three days later, leaving as many as 80,000 people dead. The bombings ended World War II.

In Friday's speech, Obama also made the case for a world without nuclear weapons.

"An international community established institutions and treaties that work to avoid war and aspire to restrict and roll back and ultimately eliminate the existence of nuclear weapons. Still, every act of aggression between nations, every act of terror and corruption and cruelty and oppression that we see around the world shows our work is never done," Obama said.

"But among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe," he said,

Obama has sought to make the initiative for building a nuclear-free world a key legacy of his presidency, launching the Nuclear Security Summit of world leaders aimed at reducing the stockpile of fissile material and keeping it out of the hands of terrorists.

jschang@yna.co.kr
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