Pelosi Becomes Most Senior U.S. Official To Honor Hiroshima Victims

September 2, 2008 1:32 p.m. EST

Hiroshima, Japan (AHN) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the most senior U.S. official on Tuesday to pay tribute to victims of the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima during World War II.

Pelosi, in Japan for a two-day meeting of parliament speakers from Group of Eight (G8) nations, visited the Hiroshima memorial along with other delegates. She later toured a nearby museum where a survivor, former museum director Akihiro Takahash, gave a personal account of the tragedy.

Pelosi, who is second in line for the U.S. presidency, makes her visit just a month after Japan marks the 63rd anniversary of nuclear attack.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 marked the end of WWII. It was the world's first nuclear attack; it killed at least 140,000 people and left scores injured and suffering from radiation. Another atomic bomb was dropped by the United States in Nagasaki three days after Hiroshima, causing Japan to surrender a week later.

No sitting U.S. president has ever visited the Hiroshima memorial. Former President Jimmy Carter paid tribute in 1984 after his term expired.