President Biden will visit the peace memorial in Japan that recognizes the 140,000 people killed after the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the White House said Tuesday.
Mr. Biden will be in Hiroshima for Group of Seven nations meetings from Friday to Sunday as part of a three-country swing through Asia. The back half of the trip is in question due to crucial negotiations in Washington to raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit before an early June deadline.
“The president plans to visit the memorial and to pay his respects to the lives of the innocents who were killed in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Mr. Kirby did not say whether Mr. Biden plans to offer any kind of apology for the August 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which helped end World War II.
He said the focus of the trip is “about the future.”
Agenda items will include solidarity in helping Ukraine resist the Russian invasion, a common approach to China and the need for “bold action” to transition to clean energy and address climate issues, Mr. Kirby said.
He also said the wealthy nations will discuss ways to help poorer, developing nations.
President Barack Obama was the first sitting president to visit the Hiroshima site. He visited the site, gave a speech and met with bombing survivors in May 2016. He did not offer a formal apology.
Mr. Biden will be visiting the memorial as part of a trip that includes a post-G7 stop in Papua New Guinea and a visit to Australia.
The White House signaled the back end of the trip could be in flux as Mr. Biden and congressional Republicans try to get on the same page to extend the nation’s borrowing authority and avoid a debt default.
“We’re working through, thinking through, the rest of the trip right now,” Mr. Kirby said.
He said Mr. Biden will be able to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 regardless of the trip schedule.
