Nagasaki Day Rally/ Closing Plenary, 2023 World Conference against
A and H Bombs
Lee Ki-yeol
Auditor, Korean Atomic Bomb Casualty AssociationRepublic of Korea
Let us work together for the international people’s tribunal to hold US
accountable for the atomic bombings

Greetings to friends from Gensuikyo and all participants in the World Conference
against A and H Bombs.
I am Lee Ki-yeol, an auditor of the Korean Atomic Bomb Casualty Association.
Seventy-eight years seems to be too long to keep the nightmare in our memory. Butmy body clearly remembers the calamity I experienced on that day. I awake in thedead of night every day. I never go to bed without feeling suffocated. I wear cotton
face mask in bed to mitigate the pains I have in the nose.
The souls of countless Korean victims of the atomic bombing 78 years ago must still
be haunting the heavens without being able to return to their homes. As an A-bomb
survivor, I keenly wish to welcome the souls back to their liberated home.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed the life of Korean
Hibakusha. Nevertheless, none of the perpetrators have admitted to theirwrongdoing. The South Korean government has treated those Hibakusha with norespect.
Living as Hibakusha all through life, I wish to see the United States accept
responsibility and apologize for committing the crime of dropping atomic bombs. If
possible, I want to sue the United States. But I know how difficult it is to file a lawsuitin the United States. Our wish to hold a people’s tribunal has been taken up by theSolidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (SPARK) and other Korean civic
groups. Work has begun toward holding the International People’s Tribunal on US
Atomic Bombing in 2026 in New York.
1

I want to devote the rest of my life to the effort to hold the United States responsible
for the atomic bombings and expose the illegality of the use of the atomic bomb. The
main purpose of the tribunal is to hear the United States make an apology saying, “Itwas wrong for the United States to drop the atomic bomb.” This is why I decided toparticipate in the international people’s tribunal as a plaintiff.
Japanese Hibakusha and Korean Hibakusha share the same sufferings, so I believethat we can encourage and join forces with each other. I sincerely wish to work
together with civil society organizations and lawyers from Korea and the rest of theworld toward the planned international people’s tribunal at the next NPT Review
Conference in 2026 in New York. There we hope that we can bring the 1945 US
nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to justice in the public eye.
If the United States admits that its use of nuclear weapons was wrong and makes anapology for it, no country will think of using such weapons.
We want to console the souls of those who had to die after enduring aftereffects ofthe exposure to radiation from atomic bombing, hunger and indifference to theirproblems. We also want to contribute to reducing the risk of nuclear war on theKorean Peninsula and to the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons. As aKorean Hibakusha, I firmly believe that we must prevent Korean people from falling
victim to the use of nuclear weapons at any cost. I believe that this is the mission I
have to carry out as a person who has lived through the pains of Hibakusha.
As a Korean atomic bomb victim, I will join hands with Gensuikyo and all theparticipants in the World Conference to make further efforts to pass a peaceful world
without war or nuclear weapons on to our children and grandchildren.
We’ll fight for peace and against war and nuclear weapons, and dream of a beautifulworld.
Thank you for your attention.

2

2023 World Conference against A and H Bombs

Sim Jin-tae
Chairperson of the Hapcheon Chapter
Korean Atomic Bomb Casualty Association
Republic of Korea
78 Years after A-bombing, Victims are present but perpetrators are not
Hello, friends,
I am Shim Jin-tae, chairperson of the Hapcheon chapter of the Koreaｎ Atomic Bomb
Casualty Association.
My parents were taken to Hiroshima from the Korean Peninsula for forced labor
under Japanese policy of plundering Koreans during imperial Japan’s occupation. My
mother was mobilized to forced labor at a munitions factory. I was born on January 9,1943 at 251 Eba Town, Hiroshima. My parents and I were exposed to the radiationfrom the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945. I
narrowly escaped death and returned to Korea to live with my grandfather. In mychildhood I survived on miserable meals.
Since 2001, as the chairperson of the Hapcheon Chapter of the Korean Atomic Bomb
Casualty Association, I have for more than 20 years witnessed the hardships theKorean Hibakusha have been experiencing. I have repeatedly questioned to myself
why the Korean civilians, who had been taken to Japan, a country that committed
war crimes, for forced labor, had to be killed by the bomb. Why they had to sufferfrom unknown diseases and die? I would demand an answer from the US
government that dropped the bomb.
The ROK government should provide relief for, and support the Korean Hibakusha.
But the successive Korean governments have been so cold that we doubt that wehave our State.
No innocent civilians must be injured or killed by war for whatever reasons. I and allother Korean atomic bomb survivors have lived through enduring the cruelconsequences of war. The resentment harbored by the Korean A-bomb victims and3

their descendants is as high as a mountain and as deep as sea.
Over the past 78 years since the atomic bombing, I have hardly been able tounderstand the reality that there are victims but not perpetrators to take responsibility.
I firmly believe that this is an intolerable reality. This is why I came to believe that theJapanese government must be held responsible for causing war and that the US
government must be held accountable for the atomic bombing.
In order to end the suffering caused by the atomic bombing, in order to prevent
nuclear weapons from being used again, and in order to achieve a world free of
nuclear weapons, I firmly believe that we should make the United States accept
responsibility for dropping the bomb and apologize for the crime.
In 2015, I took part in the NPT Review Conference. I was the first Korean A-bomb
survivor to argue that Japan should apologize for taking Koreans to Japan for forcedlabor and that the United States should accept responsibility for forcing us, innocent
people, to endure hardships caused by the atomic bombing. All A-bomb victims
around the world should come forward to hold the United States responsible for theatomic bombing. I said this is necessary for realizing a world without nuclearweapons.
I’m aware how difficult it is to sue the United States. We also know that it may takedecades to go through with such a lawsuit. So I call for an international people’s
tribunal as a first step to hold the United States accountable. If this way can be thefoundation for bringing the case to court, we want to do so. This is the motivation forme to join this project as one of the would-be plaintiffs of the tribunal.
Thanks to the support and cooperation provided by the Solidarity for Peace andReunification of Korea (SPARK), which recognized and accepted our wish, wesuccessfully held the first international meeting in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang
Province, to prepare an international people’s tribunal on the US atomic bombings.
The city is often referred to as Hiroshima of South Korea. More than 30 people took
part in the meeting from Gensuikyo. I want to express my gratitude for theircontribution.
We hope to hold the second international meeting in 2024 in Hiroshima, the citywhere the Korean Hibakusha’s pains started. We plan to hold the International
People’s Tribunal on Atomic Bombings in 2026 in New York, timed to coincide with4

the NPT Review Conference.
Time is running out. The first-generation Korean A-bomb survivors are all aging. The
rest of their life is limited. I will soon turn 90. I will continue to contribute to creating apeaceful world without nuclear weapons until the end of my life by having the UnitedStates accept responsibility and offer an apology for dropping the atomic bomb.
It’s correct to say that Korean and Japanese people are the biggest victim of the US
atomic bombings. I take this opportunity to ask for your cooperation so that Koreanand Japanese Hibakusha can join their forces to the 1945 US atomic bombing at theinternational people’s tribunal.
Thank you for your attention.

5