Japanese PM Visit to Pearl Harbor 'Tribute to Power of Reconciliation' - Obama

As the Americans commemorate the 75th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that an upcoming visit to the site by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shows both countries are committed to peace and security.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – He also stressed that on this anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack in Hawaii, "the work of securing and strengthening our nation goes on."

"This historic visit will stand as a tribute to the power of reconciliation and to the truth that the United States and Japan – bound by an alliance unimaginable 75 years ago – will continue to work hand-in-hand for a more peaceful and secure world," Obama said in a White House statement.

In the statement, Obama honored the more than 2,400 Americans who were killed in the attack and pledge to remember them and their families.

Abe and Obama will visit the attack site in Hawaii together on December 26. Abe will be Japan's first sitting prime minister to go to Pearl Harbor since the attack.

In May, Obama became the first incumbent US president to visit Hiroshima since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city in August 1945, precipitating Japan’s surrender in World War II.