A senior White House official has announced that US President Joe Biden will visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum with other Group of Seven leaders. But he says Biden will not make a statement about the atomic bombing of the city.
The official said on Wednesday that Biden and his G7 partners will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Friday, on the sidelines of their summit.
The park houses the museum, which details the 1945 atomic bombing.
Reporters asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan whether the president will issue an apology there on behalf of the US.
Sullivan said the president will not be making a statement.
He explained that, from Biden's perspective, the visit is not a bilateral moment.
He said, "This is him as one of the G7 leaders coming to pay respects." He added that Biden will pay respects for history and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, who hails from Hiroshima.
Biden will be the second sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, following Barack Obama in 2016.
Obama stressed his determination to eliminate nuclear weapons, but he did not apologize for the atomic bombing or refer to it as right or wrong.