A close aide to U.S. President Barack Obama met war veterans Thursday amid concerns the president's planned trip to Hiroshima this month could be seen as an apology for the atomic bomb attacks at the end of World War II.
Susan Rice, Obama's top foreign policy adviser, told war veterans in a meeting that Obama will visit Hiroshima "to honor the memory of all who lost their lives" during the war, according to the White House.
Rice, the White House national security adviser, met with veterans from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War to explain the purpose of the first visit to Hiroshima by a sitting American president. Obama will also visit Vietnam while in Asia later this month.