[Speech]NGO Statement at the 11th NPT Review Conference – The Voices of Korean Atomic Bomb Victims by Jin-tae Shim
Testimony of Korean Atomic Bomb Victims and Call for Justice
Mr. Shim Jintae Head, Hapcheon Branch Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association
Jin-tae Shim, Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association, delivering his speech.
My name is Shim Jintae, Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bombs Victims Association.
My father was forcibly conscripted to Hiroshima by the Japanese colonial authorities in 1941, and my mother also worked in a munitions factory in Hiroshima. I was born in Hiroshima and was exposed to the atomic bombing when I was three years old.
More than 70,000 Koreans were exposed to the atomic bomb dropped by the United States. A significant number of them, like my parents, were victims of forced mobilization under Japanese colonial rule. Over 40,000 Koreans lost their lives.
For those who survived, life was a living hell. Many perished at sea while attempting to return to Korea by boat. Even those who managed to make it back to their hometowns were forced to endure suffering amidst abject poverty, lingering health effects from the bombing, and the indifference of society.
Trapped in a vicious cycle—too ill to work, and without income to afford even basic medical treatment—we had to struggle through each day with nothing but our tears. I, too, suffered from an inexplicable skin disease, and there were far more days when I went hungry than days when I had a meal.
I have served as the Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bombs Victims Association since 2001. Over these years, I have witnessed countless victims of the atomic bombing pass away—groaning in agony—without ever receiving a single apology. Their descendants, too, continue to suffer to this very moment.
I wish to ask: Why must we die in this manner?
Japan forcibly took the Korean people away, and the United States dropped the atomic bomb. The Korean government turned its back on us. There are victims, yet no perpetrators.
What, exactly, are you doing? Are they simply waiting until all 1,600 surviving first-generation Korean victims pass away?
Because no one has stepped forward to take responsibility, we—the Korean survivors of the atomic bombings—have fought this battle ourselves. It has been my lifelong conviction that the United States, the nation that dropped the atomic bombs, must offer a sincere apology and provide compensation. Therefore, we are currently organizing an International People's Tribunal in Seoul this coming November to hold the United States accountable for its actions.
Only when the United States—the nation that actually dropped the bombs—offers an apology and provides compensation will no other nation dare to even contemplate the use of nuclear weapons. All nations possessing nuclear arms must immediately dismantle their barbaric policies that threaten other countries and all of humanity with nuclear destruction.
We—the Korean survivors of the atomic bombings and our descendants—will continue to fight to the very end, until these nuclear weapons—which are, in essence, illegal instruments of war—are reduced to nothing more than scrap metal. We ask for your deep interest in and solidarity with the cause of the Korean atomic bomb victims. Thank you.
Testimony of Korean Atomic Bomb Victims and Call for Justice
Mr. Shim Jintae
Head, Hapcheon Branch
Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association
Jin-tae Shim, Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association, delivering his speech.
My name is Shim Jintae, Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bombs Victims Association.
My father was forcibly conscripted to Hiroshima by the Japanese colonial authorities in 1941, and my mother also worked in a munitions factory in Hiroshima. I was born in Hiroshima and was exposed to the atomic bombing when I was three years old.
More than 70,000 Koreans were exposed to the atomic bomb dropped by the United States. A significant number of them, like my parents, were victims of forced mobilization under Japanese colonial rule. Over 40,000 Koreans lost their lives.
For those who survived, life was a living hell. Many perished at sea while attempting to return to Korea by boat. Even those who managed to make it back to their hometowns were forced to endure suffering amidst abject poverty, lingering health effects from the bombing, and the indifference of society.
Trapped in a vicious cycle—too ill to work, and without income to afford even basic medical treatment—we had to struggle through each day with nothing but our tears. I, too, suffered from an inexplicable skin disease, and there were far more days when I went hungry than days when I had a meal.
I have served as the Head of the Hapcheon Branch of the Korean Atomic Bombs Victims Association since 2001. Over these years, I have witnessed countless victims of the atomic bombing pass away—groaning in agony—without ever receiving a single apology. Their descendants, too, continue to suffer to this very moment.
I wish to ask: Why must we die in this manner?
Japan forcibly took the Korean people away, and the United States dropped the atomic bomb. The Korean government turned its back on us. There are victims, yet no perpetrators.
What, exactly, are you doing? Are they simply waiting until all 1,600 surviving first-generation Korean victims pass away?
Because no one has stepped forward to take responsibility, we—the Korean survivors of the atomic bombings—have fought this battle ourselves. It has been my lifelong conviction that the United States, the nation that dropped the atomic bombs, must offer a sincere apology and provide compensation. Therefore, we are currently organizing an International People's Tribunal in Seoul this coming November to hold the United States accountable for its actions.
Only when the United States—the nation that actually dropped the bombs—offers an apology and provides compensation will no other nation dare to even contemplate the use of nuclear weapons. All nations possessing nuclear arms must immediately dismantle their barbaric policies that threaten other countries and all of humanity with nuclear destruction.
We—the Korean survivors of the atomic bombings and our descendants—will continue to fight to the very end, until these nuclear weapons—which are, in essence, illegal instruments of war—are reduced to nothing more than scrap metal. We ask for your deep interest in and solidarity with the cause of the Korean atomic bomb victims. Thank you.