hankyoreh

An A-Bomb survivor‘s health book

In 2008, the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialist Occupation, a body formed under the Office of the Prime Minister, published a book titled The August Engraved in my Body - Experiences of Korean Forced Laborers who Survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombs. This was a valuable collection of testimonies from Koreans who had been forcibly taken to Japan and suffered from the atomic bombing. The committee was wrapped up in 2014, and the book is gradually fading from memory, but the deep scars on the bodies and hearts of the victims have not healed.

Lee Gwang-mo, 95, and Kim Seong-su, 92, who were sent to the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Nagasaki Shipyard during the Japanese occupation, visited Nagasaki to testify in a lawsuit demanding that the Japanese government issue them with “A-bomb survivor's health books” that are provided to atomic bomb survivors. Under the Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, the Japanese government recognizes those who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the bombings as “atomic bomb survivors,” issues them with health books and provides free medical care.

Bae Han-seop, 92, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, was unable to make the trip to Japan due to poor health, and testimony was instead provided on his behalf by Kawai Akiko, a member of the Japanese civic group Citizens Seeking Relief for Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors. In clear Japanese, Lee pronounced “36,912,” the number that had been assigned to him at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The testimonies of Kim and Bae are included in The August Engraved in my Body.

They first applied to the Japanese government to be issued a health book in 2014. The Japanese government had originally limited the issuance of health books to those residing in Japan, ignoring Koreans who had returned home, but the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law was amended in 2008 to allow health books to be issued in Korea as well, following a lengthy battle by Korean victims and Japanese civic groups. Lee testified that the dormitory he was housed in was called “Kibachiryo,” and drew a detailed map showing the location of the building and its floor plan. This information could only be known by survivors.

However, the application of the Korean survivors was dismissed by Nagasaki City due to a lack of evidence that they were actually in Nagasaki on the day of the bombing. The city claimed that they could not be recognized as atomic bomb survivors unless they provided official documents as proof.

In response, Lee and the others filed a lawsuit in 2016 in Nagasaki District Court against the city’s decision. A Japanese civic group also found records of deposit forms for unpaid wages, official documents that could serve as strong evidence supporting the case. After the end of World War II, Japanese companies deposited unpaid wages for Korean forced laborers with the courts, so the list of deposits was expected to play a decisive role.

However, a shocking fact was revealed in August last year. The Nagasaki Bureau of Judicial Affairs admitted that the list of unpaid wage deposits for up to 3,400 Korean laborers had been destroyed in 1970 when their official retention period came to an end. In 1958, the Japanese government ordered local governments to not destroy records pertaining to Korean laborers forcibly brought to Japan, even after the expiry of the retention period.

Accordingly, this action was a violation of central government orders. Japan is currently claiming that there is no evidence to support the case of the Korean victims, even though they were responsible for destroying the relevant records.

When I met Kawai, a member of Citizens Seeking Relief for Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors, he brought out a large folder filled with documents and explained the case to me in detail. “I am angered by the Japanese government’s attitude, telling the survivors to provide more evidence when it is clear that they were brought to Japan against their will and were victims of the atomic bomb,” he said.

Cho Ki-weon

Meanwhile, in Korea a scandal surrounding corruption by the National Court Administration has recently come to light, where it is claimed that the courts agreed to delay the final decision on a case about Koreans forcibly drafted into the army during the Japanese occupation in exchange for obtaining a number of judicial positions in overseas posts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this sense, the suffering of the Korean victims of forced labor is being ignored by both countries. This is an example of cruelty at its finest.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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