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Korean A-bomb survivors call for accelerating procedure to receive A-bomb Survivor’s Certificate

by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

Kim Yong Gil, president of the South Korean Atomic Bomb Sufferers Association, along with other members of the group, have called for the further acceleration of the screening procedure involved in issuing the Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificate for those living in South Korea. They made this appeal at Hiroshima City Hall on September 10, arguing that the current procedure is too protracted.

Following a closed consultation at the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Department of the City of Hiroshima, a press conference was held in which Mr. Kim said that, in many cases in Hiroshima, it takes one to two years for the certificate to be issued. In Nagasaki, on the other hand, the certificate is issued about three months after the application is made. He went on to describe the situation as a humanitarian issue, pointing out that the average age of A-bomb survivors in South Korea is now over 76. In addition, he called on the City of Hiroshima to take into consideration that 65 years have passed since the atomic bombing, expressing indignation at the fact that certificates are withheld when even slight differences are found between the memories of survivors and those of witnesses, a verification needed to process the application.

According to the City of Hiroshima, 129 applications for the Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificate from those living overseas, including from South Korea, were received in fiscal year 2009. Certificates were issued for 84 people, among them those who applied the previous year. The screening duration for issuing the certificate for those living overseas is 10.5 months, on average, roughly the same length of time as Japanese A-bomb survivors, for whom the procedure takes nearly 11 months.

Meanwhile, the City of Nagasaki received 26 applications for the Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificate in fiscal year 2009 from those living abroad and issued 18 certificates, including to those who applied the previous year. Shinji Iitomi, director of the Qualification Division of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Department at Hiroshima City Office, said, "Though Hiroshima receives more applications than Nagasaki, we would like to consider ways to accelerate the screening procedure including the possibility of increasing our personnel."

(Originally published on September 11, 2010)

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