The forgotten survivors of atomic bombs

Jung Bun-sun wipes her face during an interview at a special nursing facility for Korean atomic bomb survivors in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province. Korea Times photos and videos by Choi Won-suk

Korean gov't to conduct first nationwide survey of victims this year

By Jung Min-ho

HAPCHEON, South Gyeongsang Province ― More than 220,000 people were killed by the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Japan during World War II. However, what is little-known is that up to 50,000 of those who died were Koreans.

During Japan's 35-year colonial period, many Koreans were forced to settle in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as laborers. Some had no choice but to flee their homeland after they had been stripped of everything they had.

Lee Su-yong, 90, was seven years old when she went to Hiroshima with her family in search of food and a better life. She attended schools there and eventually got a job at a state bank. Everything seemed fine until Aug. 6, 1945 ― the day that changed her life forever.

Lee Su-yong shows her injured foot.

A U.S. B-29 bomber dropped a 15-kiloton atomic bomb on the city in the morning when she was about to start the day at her office ― only 1.5 kilometers from ground zero.

"After an ear-shattering bang, I hid under my table. The next thing I knew, my left foot was badly injured by a big splinter of glass and I was covered with blood. Everything I could see was destroyed," Lee told The Korea Times.

"When I walked out of the building, I could see a dark sky filled with smoke. Children were crying for their mothers. Charred bodies were strewn all over the city. Many people lost their arms or legs. One person I saw had his eye popped out of its socket. It was horrendous."

She was fortunate to receive medical treatment at a military facility on a neighboring island, where she saw burnt people and dead bodies every day. But her foot was damaged permanently.

Radiation exposure may have continued to affect her health. Later, Lee also suffered from uterine cancer and lung disease. After a few years, her mother and two brothers died. They all suffered lung disease, she said.

Jung Bun-sun, 90, also settled in Hiroshima as a child. To earn money, she sold side dishes on the streets and worked at various factories. When she was 17, her father told her to get married early. So she did. Jung said her father was worried that Japanese soldiers would take her to a wartime brothel as a sex slave.

"The same year, I got pregnant, and soon after, the bomb exploded," she said.

"It was the loudest bang I had ever heard. There was so much smoke in the air. I had no idea what had just happened."

The point of explosion was not close enough to kill her instantly. But Jung has suffered from unexplained illnesses throughout her life.

Jung shows a photo of her mother.

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Her family was less fortunate. "At the time of the explosion, my father was standing with his back toward it," she said. "The bomb was so powerful that it burned the back of his legs. My brother suffered burns on his arms."

And this was just the beginning of their misery. Her family members suffered lung disease and some apparently died from this.

"After returning to Korea, my husband died at 45 and my son died three years ago," she said. "Both of them had trouble with their lungs."

Jung in the room she shares with two other survivors.

But the two survivors said their ordeal was not the most appalling. Those who suffered the worst injuries died long ago; some lost all their family members that day.

Research shows that the atomic bomb affected the survivors for the rest of their lives. Exposure to radiation may alter the DNA inside cells, which results in various cancers. Survivors also showed a high rate of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, suffering from flashbacks to the bombing.

The survivors who returned to Korea after the war also had to battle social stigma. Worried about second-generation health risks from radiation, many were hesitant to allow their sons or daughters to marry. Men would divorce their wives if they found out they had been in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. As a result, many survivors kept the memory to themselves.

"I kept it a secret even from my husband and children," Lee said. "It was only a few years ago that my second son found out about my story."

Wooden memorial plaques for Korean victims are placed near a nursing facility.

About 99 percent of the 70,000 Korean victims (dead and survivors) of the Hiroshima bomb attack were from Hapcheon and its surrounding area, according to the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association. Many were taken to Hiroshima's munitions factories and other facilities, where they were forced to work for the Japanese military. The bomb killed about 35,000, while 5,000 continued with their lives in Japan, and 30,000 returned to Korea.

Because many settled down in their hometown, Hapcheon became a symbolic place for the victims. This is why it is called "the Hiroshima of Korea."

Fighting for recognition

But the atomic bomb survivors' suffering has long been ignored by the governments of Japan, the U.S. and their own country.

"There has been no investigation by the central government. Can you believe it? Lawmakers passed a bill to examine the victims in 2016, but progress has been very slow," said Shim Jin-tae, 75, head of the victim association's Hapcheon office.

He was born in Hiroshima and was two years old when the bomb detonated over the city.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it planned to conduct the first nationwide survey of victims this year, 40 years after the Hapcheon County Office conducted its own survey. In 1978, about 6,000 people registered as first-generation victims, but the number could be much higher, according to Yoo Young-hee, the organization's secretary general.

"They knew they would not be able to receive any government compensation and thought it would only stigmatize them," she said. "Among the registered victims, 2,300 people are alive today."

Inside the museum dedicated to the Korean victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Without any Korean government data, the organization has largely relied on the Japanese government to estimate the damage suffered by Koreans.

The survivors were unable to receive government benefits until 1990s, when Japan offered to set up a humanitarian fund, which was used to build a nursing facility in Hapcheon. This place is now home to Lee, Jung and 98 other survivors.

Last year, a museum dedicated to the survivors was opened next to the nursing facility after the Korean government agreed to cover the costs.

In 2016, Barack Obama visited Hiroshima as the first sitting U.S. president and met Japanese bomb survivors. He paid tribute to the dead, but he did not apologize for the U.S. decision to hasten the end of World War II.

Shim said the governments of both the U.S. and Japan owed the Korean victims an apology.

"They were not from the country that started the war or the one that used atomic bombs to stop it. Koreans were killed and suffered for no reason," he said.

"For too long, our voices have been ignored even by our own government and our existence has been forgotten. We want people to know we are here and we are still suffering."