Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama made a historic joint visit to Pearl Harbor Tuesday, honoring thousands who perished in the Japanese surprise attack of December 7, 1941 that led US to enter the World War II.
Abe offered "sincere and everlasting condolences" to those who lost their lives and said "we must never repeat the horrors of war again."Notably, Abe did not apologize for the attack.
Obama called Abe's visit a "historic gesture" not only because he was the first Japanese leader to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, the resting place for more than a thousand sailors and Marines killed in the attack, but the presence of the two marked the first joint visit to Pearl Harbor by US and Japanese leaders.
Here are some pictures capturing the joint visit by Obama and Abe.
Obama and Abe ride in the stern of the Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet Barge to the USS Arizona Memorial in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
Abe: "As the prime minister of Japan, I offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives here, as well as to the spirits of all the brave men and women whose lives were taken by a war that commenced in this very place."
Source: Associated Press
"We must never repeat the horrors of war again," Abe said. "This is the solemn vow we, the people of Japan, have taken.”
Source: CNN
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