Memorial service in Hiroshima honors Korean victims of atomic bombings

A memorial ceremony was held solemnly in Hiroshima last Saturday to commemorate Korean victims who lost their lives in atomic bombings carried out by the U.S. forces on Aug. 6, 1945 by the end of the Second World War.

Around 200 participants including Korean residents in Japan and students from both countries gathered in front of the monument erected to honor Korean victims in Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima. The memorial service, celebrating its 54th anniversary this year, takes place on Aug. 5 every year – one day earlier than the day when Little Boy dropped on the city during the war.

Lee Key-cheol, the chief of the Overseas Koreans Agency (OKA), paid floral tribute to the monument and bowed, saying, “I’d like to send my sincere condolence to the Korean victims. May they rest in peace, leaving hatred and resentment behind.” With eight victims, who were newly confirmed in the recent year to be dead due to the atomic air raid, added to the list, 2,810 names were commemorated during the ceremony.

Kwon Jun-o, a second-generation A-bomb survivor who serves as the chairperson of a special committee for atomic bomb victims, expressed gratitude toward the OKA for becoming the first government agency to attend the memorial ceremony. “I am deeply grateful that President Yoon Suk Yeol first joined a memorial service this May,” he added. The OKA was established in June under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Last year, the memorial ceremony was attended mainly by the South Korean consul general stationed in Hiroshima and other visitors.

President Yoon worshiped at the monument in memory of the Korean victims of a-bombs accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on his visit to the G7 Hiroshima Summit on May 21, becoming the country’s first president to make a visit to the monument.


sanghun@donga.com