U.N. Chief to Visit Hiroshima in August

February 5, 2020

New York- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday he will visit Hiroshima in August for the 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city.

The visit will be "a way to demonstrate, not only my solidarity with Hiroshima, but my strong commitment to nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation," Guterres said in a press conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

In 2010, then U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took part in the Aug. 6 peace memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, becoming the first U.N. chief to do so.

In 2018, Guterres became the first U.N. chief to attend the memorial event in the southwestern Japan city of Nagasaki, where atomic bombing took place three days after the attack on Hiroshima.

When he met with Hidehiko Yuzaki, governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, in New York last April, Guterres indicated his eagerness to visit Hiroshima in 2020.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by the U.S. atomic bombings in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II. Jiji Press