Why do you think President Obama visited Hiroshima?

Barack Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima should not be interpreted as an apology, his spokesman said on Tuesday in the wake of the announcement that Obama would become the first sitting president to visit the site where the US dropped an atomic bomb in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the final days of the second world war.

Asked if the trip might be seen as an apology, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, replied: "If people do interpret it that way, they'll be interpreting it wrongly."

Earnest declined to comment on the morality of America's decision to drop the atomic bomb, for which there have been calls for the country to apologise. He said: "The president intends to visit to send a much more forward-looking signal for his ambition of realising the goal of a planet without nuclear weapons."

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Confirming Obama's visit in a statement earlier on Tuesday, the White House said it would "highlight [Obama's] continued commitment to pursuing peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons".

Earnest acknowledged that the US bore a "special responsibility" for the bombing of Hiroshima but was also quick to pay tribute to the "greatest generation" who fought in the second world war.