John Kerry to make historic visit to Hiroshima memorial

/in /by

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, will become the highest-ranking American official to pay tribute to the victims of the first nuclear attack in history when he visits the peace memorial park in Hiroshima next month.

 

Japan’s government ended weeks of speculation with the announcement that Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers will lay flowers at a cenotaph to the victims on the sidelines of their summit in the western Japanese city next week.

 

About 80,000 people were killed instantly when the Enola Gay, a US B-29 bomber, dropped a 15-kilotonne nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on the morning of 6 August 1945. More than 60,000 others died from their injuries and exposure to radiation by the end of the year.

 

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