Summer following conclusion of Hiroshima Summit: In a first, head of South Korean Overseas Koreans Agency attends memorial ceremony, pledges “No Koreans will be sacrificed in despair ever again”
Aug. 6, 2023
by Kana Kobayashi, Staff Writer
On August 5, a memorial ceremony for Korean A-bomb victims was held at Peace Memorial Park, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward. For the first time, Lee Key-cheol, head of the South Korean government’s Overseas Koreans Agency, was in attendance. Mr. Lee expressed empathy for those who had traveled to Japan from Korea under Japan’s colonial rule only to experience the horror of the atomic bombing. “We will ensure that no Koreans will be sacrificed in despair ever again,” pledged Mr. Lee.
This memorial ceremony, attended by about 200 people including Korean A-bomb survivors and second-generation Korean survivors in Japan, was held by the Hiroshima Headquarters of the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) in front of the Monument in Memory of the Korean Victims of the A-bomb. Thirteen volumes of a register with the names of 2,810 victims, added to which were the names of eight Korean A-bomb survivors for whom a notice of death was submitted to the organization in the previous 12 months, were dedicated to the monument. That was followed by the participants observing a moment of silence.
In his speech, Mr. Lee described the situation of the atomic bombing 78 years ago and mourned the victims from his country. “I pay sincere tribute to their regretful deaths, which were unprecedented in this world.” Touching on the suffering experienced by Korean A-bomb survivors in Japan, Mr. Lee offered comfort. “Your home country shares your suffering as Korean A-bomb victims who have endured so much discrimination and pain.”
In May, when South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol was invited to the G7 Hiroshima Summit, he became the first sitting South Korean president to visit the memorial. That led to Mr. Lee traveling from South Korea to attend the memorial ceremony for Korean A-bomb victims. One of the ceremony participants, Kwon Yangbaek, 79, a Korean A-bomb survivor living in Higashihiroshima City, said, “I was deeply moved, overwhelmed with emotion.”
(Originally published on August 6, 2023)
On August 5, a memorial ceremony for Korean A-bomb victims was held at Peace Memorial Park, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward. For the first time, Lee Key-cheol, head of the South Korean government’s Overseas Koreans Agency, was in attendance. Mr. Lee expressed empathy for those who had traveled to Japan from Korea under Japan’s colonial rule only to experience the horror of the atomic bombing. “We will ensure that no Koreans will be sacrificed in despair ever again,” pledged Mr. Lee.
This memorial ceremony, attended by about 200 people including Korean A-bomb survivors and second-generation Korean survivors in Japan, was held by the Hiroshima Headquarters of the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) in front of the Monument in Memory of the Korean Victims of the A-bomb. Thirteen volumes of a register with the names of 2,810 victims, added to which were the names of eight Korean A-bomb survivors for whom a notice of death was submitted to the organization in the previous 12 months, were dedicated to the monument. That was followed by the participants observing a moment of silence.
In his speech, Mr. Lee described the situation of the atomic bombing 78 years ago and mourned the victims from his country. “I pay sincere tribute to their regretful deaths, which were unprecedented in this world.” Touching on the suffering experienced by Korean A-bomb survivors in Japan, Mr. Lee offered comfort. “Your home country shares your suffering as Korean A-bomb victims who have endured so much discrimination and pain.”
In May, when South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol was invited to the G7 Hiroshima Summit, he became the first sitting South Korean president to visit the memorial. That led to Mr. Lee traveling from South Korea to attend the memorial ceremony for Korean A-bomb victims. One of the ceremony participants, Kwon Yangbaek, 79, a Korean A-bomb survivor living in Higashihiroshima City, said, “I was deeply moved, overwhelmed with emotion.”
(Originally published on August 6, 2023)
