hankyoreh

Books with the names of victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima are arranged on May 18

On May 18, I was sitting in a bar in Fukushima-cho - a Hiroshima neighborhood where many Japanese of Korean descent live - across from Kim Jin-ho, director of the Hiroshima Prefecture Association for Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors. “Don’t bother with pointless fantasies. Everything is based on political calculations!” Kim said before filling his glass with Asahi Super Dry beer and taking a big gulp.

Kim is one of the first generation of atomic bomb survivors. He was in his mother’s womb when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

Kim’s parents lived in Kabe-cho, about 15km northeast of ground zero. After the bomb went off, they went downtown to find their two daughters, who lived close to ground zero. As a result, Kim’s parents, his two-year-old sister who was on his mother’s back and Kim himself were all exposed to radiation. Including the two sisters who lived downtown, four of the nine children in the family are atomic bomb survivors

Kim has been involved with the Hiroshima chapter of the General Association of Korean Residents (Chongryon) for his entire life, and he takes a cynical view of US President Barack Obama‘s upcoming visit to Hiroshima on May 27.

“Seven years have passed since Obama made that speech in Prague, but he has failed to make any significant progress toward denuclearization,” Kim said.

The people of Hiroshima are torn about how to view Obama’s visit to the city. They are sharply divided between those who think Obama should apologize and those who think the very fact that he is visiting the bombed city is significant. But even the view that Obama does not need to apologize is just a pragmatic compromise, since the fact is that, deep down, an overwhelming majority of people in Hiroshima feel that an apology is necessary.

“Obama is coming in the public capacity of US president, so he probably won’t apologize. If he’s only coming here for his own political legacy, it might be a little disrespectful to Hiroshima,” said Takashi Hiraoka, 89, during an interview with the Hankyoreh. Hiraoka was mayor of Hiroshima from 1991 to 1999.

This reflects a sharp divide between the attitude in Tokyo, which hopes to use Obama’s visit to strengthen the US-Japan alliance and to prop up Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s approval rating, and the attitude of the people of Hiroshima, who want an apology for the innocent lives that were lost when the atomic bomb was dropped.

But even while the people of Hiroshima’s were denouncing the horror of the nuclear attack, there were few signs that they were giving much thought to Korean survivors of the attack.

While Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui told Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Japan, that he wanted Obama to meet the atomic bomb survivors, the only thing he had to say about Korean atomic bomb survivors was that he hoped Obama would also say something about “the harm suffered by foreigners.”

And though the Chugoku Shimbun and other major newspapers in Hiroshima are printing interviews with Korean atomic bomb survivors, they have failed to capture public attention.

There is little evidence in Hiroshima’s official records about the atomic devastation of the city suggesting that it has reflected on Japan’s responsibility for its own acts of aggression.

On May 18 and 19, a Hankyoreh reporter meticulously inspected the exhibits at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which Obama is supposed to tour during his visit. There were no signs that plainly addressed the issues of Japan’s war of aggression in Asia, its colonial rule over Korea and Taiwan or the estimated 70,000 Koreans who were exposed to radiation in the bombing of the city.

The reporter was only able to find a single paragraph about these issues, and even that was not in the main museum but rather in a separate memorial hall for the atomic bomb victims. A sign in this hall said, “It is estimated that there were around 350,000 people in Hiroshima when the bomb fell. A large number of them were from the Korean Peninsula, which was a Japanese colony at the time.”

Of course, there is a memorial stone to Korean victims of the atomic bomb in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which was moved there from its previous location outside the park in May 1999. Occasionally, Japanese elementary school students approach the memorial and nod their heads as their teacher explains that there were Korean victims in Hiroshima, too.

The people of Hiroshima are uncomfortable with the South Korean view that Obama’s visit to the city could undermine efforts to hold Japan responsible for its history of aggression.

“I don’t understand why people think Obama laying a wreath at the memorial stone will make Japan any less responsible for its past aggression. [If they really wanted denuclearization,] South Koreans should also be supporting the Hiroshima activists and taking advantage of [Obama‘s] visit to Hiroshima. In the end, South Korea and China take a positive view of nuclear weapons [except for those who support the atomic bomb survivors],” said Etsuko Nakatani, 66, secretary-general of the second generation chapter of the Council of Atomic Bomb Survivor Organizations in Hiroshima Prefecture.

There are even concerns that such subtle disagreements as these could trigger another outbreak of historical bickering between South Korea and Japan. If Obama only visits the memorial stone for the Korean victims without meeting atomic bomb survivors as the people of Hiroshima so earnestly desire, Hiroshima is sure to take this as an insult, some believe.

“I really want to meet President Obama and talk to him myself. He needs to know how terrifying an atomic bomb is,” said Kanji Amazaki, 88.

On the other hand, if Obama does not lay a wreath before the memorial to the Korean victims, South Koreans’ public opinion about his visit will undoubtedly undergo a chill. The memorial stone to victims of the atomic bomb, where Obama is expected to place flowers, is just 270 paces away from the memorial for Korean victims of the bombing.

“We must not let this visit be nothing but a political performance in which President Obama is given a bouquet of flowers as his time in office comes to a close,” said Masakazu Tomen, a reporter for the Chugoku Shimbun who has interviewed Korean atomic bomb survivors. “It’s important to broaden the discussion about denuclearization while hearing what Korean atomic bomb survivors have to say.”

By Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent in Hiroshima

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]