Yoon to meet Korean-Japanese survivors of atomic bomb

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who will visit Japan to attend the G7 Summit on May 19 in Hiroshima, reportedly plans to meet Korean Japanese atomic bomb survivors and their descendants. If the meeting is arranged, it would be the first time in 78 years since Korean Liberation from Japanese Rule for a Korean president to meet Korean survivors in Hiroshima.

According to authorities on Monday, the Korean government plans to set up a roundtable with Korean Japanese atomic bomb survivors after the bombing in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. President Yoon may pay tribute to the Monument for Korean Victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. “Though the president will mostly attend multi-party meetings and thus will not have much time, he is considering arranging meaningful schedules such as paying tribute to the monument and attending the worktable, which many Korean Japanese victims look forward to,” said a government official.

Of previous high-ranking Korean officials, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Hiroshima in 2010 and paid tribute to the monument.

Most Korean Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb are in their 80s or 90s. They had suffered greatly in Japan as survivors of the bomb and as Korean Japanese.


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