'We must never repeat the horrors of war again': Japan's prime minister and Obama visit Pearl Harbor

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

Shinzo Abe and Barack Obama participate in a wreath-laying ceremony aboard the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, U.S., December 27, 2016.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama made a historic joint visit to Pearl Harbor Tuesday, honoring thousands who perished in the Japanese surprise attack of December 7, 1941 that led US to enter the World War II.

Abe offered "sincere and everlasting condolences" to those who lost their lives and said "we must never repeat the horrors of war again."Notably, Abe did not apologize for the attack.

Obama called Abe's visit a "historic gesture" not only because he was the first Japanese leader to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, the resting place for more than a thousand sailors and Marines killed in the attack, but the presence of the two marked the first joint visit to Pearl Harbor by US and Japanese leaders.

Here are some pictures capturing the joint visit by Obama and Abe.