Abe's no-apology Pearl Harbor visit serves no purpose

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama stood side by side at Pearl Harbor on Tuesday, talking about reconciliation between the World War II foes and their growing postwar security alliance. Abe hopes his visit to Pear Harbor in Hawaii will resolve the historical issue, at least between the United States and Japan.

In his nearly 17-minute speech, Abe, to no one's surprise, offered no apology for the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, which drew a then reluctant US into World War II.Without an apology, the entire Abe speech, how-ever emotional it was made by an interpreter, sounded hollow in essence. The speech only signaled that the sensitive but critical historical issue between Japan and the US is still unsolved.

Abe had indicated earlier that he would not have to offer an apology because Obama did not offer one in May when he visited Hiroshima, one of the two Japanese cities where the US dropped atomic bombs in August 1945.