German President Joachim Gauck on Friday made his first visit to Nagasaki, one of the two Japanese cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombings at the end of World War II.
At Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Gauck met with hibakusha and said such tragedies must never be repeated.
He also offered flowers at the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, which displays the list of victims of the 1945 atomic bombing.
Gauck told Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue that he respects the peace activities that the southwestern Japan city has been engaged in.
He also talked with Sumiteru Taniguchi, 87, a senior official of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, known as Hidankyo, at an informal gathering.
When Taniguchi told Gauck that the past should not be forgotten, the German president agreed, according to the mayor, who was present at the gathering.