Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Pearl Harbor with U.S. President Barack Obama at the end of this month, becoming the first leader of his country to go to the site of the Japanese attack that propelled the United States into World War II. Abe, in a brief statement to reporters, said he would visit Hawaii on Dec. 26 and 27 to pray for the war dead at the naval base at Pearl Harbor and to hold a final summit meeting with Obama before the latter's presidency ends. Obama's decision to visit Hiroshima in May divided Americans and was broadly welcomed in Japan. Abe said Monday that Obama's message aiming for a world without nuclear weapons still touches the hearts of many Japanese. There were mixed reactions to the timing of Abe's Pearl Harbor visit.

Source: ABC News December 05, 2016 10:50 UTC