I will not apologize for Hiroshima, Nagasaki atomic bombings: Obama

US President Barack Obama says he will not apologize to Japan over the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, emphasizing that improving mutual ties will instead be the focus of his upcoming trip to the country.

This Friday, Obama will become the first sitting US president to ever tour the site of the world’s first nuclear bombing that killed more than 140,000 people in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

The attack was followed by another US atomic bombing on the port city of Nagasaki three days later, killing about 73,000 people.

When on Sunday, Japanese national broadcaster NHK asked Obama if an apology would be included in remarks he plans to make in Hiroshima, he said, “No, because I think that it’s important to recognize that in the midst of war, leaders make all kinds of decisions.”

“But I know, as somebody who has now sat in this position for the last seven and half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during wartime,” he added.