TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he will visit Pearl Harbor with U.S. President Barack Obama at the end of this month, becoming the first leader of his country to go to the U.S. Naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by Japan in 1941, propelling the United States into World War II.

Abe said he would visit Hawaii with Obama on Dec. 26 and 27 to pray for the war dead at Pearl Harbor and hold their last summit meeting before Obama's presidency ends.

"We must never repeat the tragedy of the war," he told reporters. "I would like to send this commitment. At the same time, I would like to send a message of reconciliation between Japan and the U.S."

Earlier this year, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the memorial to victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.