While nearly 70 years have passed since the end of World War II, highlighting the horror of the atomic bombings of Japan can still be controversial in the United States, where many believe the attacks were necessary to bring a quick end to the war.

An upcoming exhibition at a university museum in Washington may prove no exception as renowned atomic bomb paintings by Japanese husband and wife artists Iri and Toshi Maruki will be displayed in the United States for the first time in 20 years.

But the organizers believe the exhibition of the so-called Hiroshima Panels will be worth seeing because it will not only offer images of Japanese civilian victims but will also allude to the implications for nuclear weapons at a time when the push for nuclear disarmament suffered another setback at a United Nations conference in May.