(CNSNews.com) – The Japanese government on Thursday welcomed news that the a U.S. ambassador will for the first time attend the annual commemoration of the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
 
 The State Department announced that Ambassador John Roos would represent the U.S. at the August 6 event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, “to express respect for all of the victims of World War II.”
 
 Asked why the gesture was being made at this time, spokesman Philip Crowley said, “At this particular point, we thought it was the right thing to do.”
 
Japanese media attributed the decision to President Obama’s agenda of pursuing “a world without nuclear weapons,” outlined in a speech in Prague last year.