[Speech]NPT RevCon Civil Society Presentation - Recognize, Apologize, Investigate, and Compensate for A-bomb Damage Suffered by the Korean Victims!

Civil Society Presentation, 2015 NPT Review Conference

Delivered by Kee-youl Lee, first generation of Korean victim

May 1, 2015, New York


Recognize, Apologize, Investigate, and Compensate

for A-bomb Damage Suffered by the Korean Victims!


My name is Sim Jin Tae, I am an Atomic Bomb survivor from South Korea.

I was born in Hiroshima in 1943.  I was there when the atomic bomb dropped, and as a result, I became exposed to radiation.


On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the time, 100,000 out of the total 740,000 victims were Koreans.


The majority of the Korean A-bomb victims were those who had been forcibly conscripted by colonial Japan. Japan needs to stop distorting the truth about its history of war and colonial conquest, and apologize to, as well as compensate the victims.


Despite predictions that the bombs would cause enormous damage, death, and injury, the United States chose to drop the first atomic bombs. An even greater problem is that radiation poisoning from the A-bombs is genetically transmitted to the following generations. We demand an honest and sincere apology from the U.S. government.


Humankind must be made aware of the horrors suffered by A-bomb survivors in Korea and around the world. The United Nations, charged with guarding peace and human rights for all humankind, should take leadership and actively work to ban and eliminate all nuclear weapons.


Thank you.