Obuchi becomes 1st premier to honor Korean A-bomb victims

Aug. 6, Kyodo - Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday visited a stone tower dedicated to Korean victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, marking the first official visit to the Korean monument by a Japanese prime minister since its completion in 1970.

Obuchi, who attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony commemorating the 54th anniversary of the bombing earlier in the day, laid a bouquet of white lilies and bowed deeply before the tower, built by supporters of the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Association in Japan (Mindan).

South Korean A-bomb victims' group requested former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to pay a visit to the cenotaph in 1997, and Hashimoto said that he would if he had the chance, but was unable to do so.

The 5-meter-high, 10-ton tower was relocated to a site inside the city's Peace Memorial Park late last month, 29 years after its establishment across the river, 300 meters west of the park.

In 1967, the Hiroshima municipal government refused permission for Mindan to build the tower in the park, saying it would not allow any new cenotaphs. The relocation was realized after Korean residents, as well as tourists, complained that it was discriminatory to keep the tower outside the park.

An estimated 20,000 Koreans died immediately or soon after the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing in Hiroshima. Many Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan to work as laborers during Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Shortly before visiting the monument, Obuchi met with representatives of a pro-Pyongyang Korean A-bomb survivors' groups, and promised that the government will seek medical assistance for victims living in North Korea.

Li Sil Gun, head of the group, hoped that training programs for North Korean doctors to improve treatment of A-bomb victims in the North will start in Japan this fall, at the earliest.

Obuchi said he will consult with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka on the matter, and also said the government will consider providing medical equipment to North Korea.

Picture Caption: Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi changed the schedule and offered flowers to the Monument in Memory of the Korean Victims of the A-bomb which has been relocated inside the park. (Aug 6th, 12:05 PM, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park)