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Positioned on the west aspect of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a 4.5 meter stone tower stands on a big turtle-shaped base. The turtle faces the course of the Korean Peninsula; as Korean legend goes, the spirits of the lifeless ascend to heaven on the again of a turtle. On the prime of the tower, there’s a crown engraved with two dragons.
That is the memorial devoted to South Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will go to this monument on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit within the metropolis, which can happen from Could 19 to 21.
With the 2 leaders anticipated to put a bouquet of flowers and bow deeply earlier than the memorial stela, their go to will probably be absolutely a really passionate and emotional occasion, staging a dramatic political present that marks a watershed within the historic reconciliation between the 2 nations. No South Korean president has ever visited the memorial in Hiroshima earlier than, as these Korean A-bomb victims have been largely a “forgotten folks” of their mom nation.
As for Japan, Kishida will develop into simply the second sitting prime minister to go to the stone tower since its completion in 1970. Obuchi Keizo paid his respects with a go to on August 6, 1999, making him the primary – and, till subsequent week, the one – Japanese prime minister to take action.
It’s mentioned that there have been about 3 million Koreans in Japan on the finish of World Conflict II. The Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Affiliation estimates that fifty,000 Koreans had been uncovered to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, of whom 30,000 died. They had been each residents of town and compelled laborers introduced from the Korean Peninsula throughout Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
The inscription on the stone tower says, “When the atomic bomb was dropped on August sixth, 1945, the sacred lives of greater than 20,000 Koreans had been instantly taken from our midst. Of the 200,000 Hiroshima residents misplaced to the bomb, roughly 10% had been Koreans. This tragic determine can’t be quietly left unnoticed.”
The complete inscription on the Monument in Reminiscence of the Korean Victims of the A-bomb in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Photograph by Takahashi Kosuke.
“The South Korean president’s go to to the cenotaph is one thing that we Koreans in Hiroshima have been lengthy wishing for, so we’re very completely happy now,” Kwon Joon-oh, 73, a second-generation A-bomb survivor, instructed The Diplomat on Could 12.
“Prime Minister Kishida has been criticized for his lack of apology in Seoul, however I feel that even when he doesn’t instantly say an apology, visiting the monument itself represents an apology,” mentioned Kwon, who serves as vice chairperson of a particular committee for atomic bomb victims within the Hiroshima workplace of the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan). The Hiroshima department of Mindan was the group liable for erecting the monument in 1970 and nonetheless manages it immediately.
“This monument was erected within the hope that the souls of our compatriots, delivered to distress by pressure, will be capable to relaxation in peace,” the inscription states. “Nevertheless, we additionally pray that the plight of the Korean survivors, poorly understood even immediately, will emerge into public consciousness…”
Kwon strongly hopes Yoon will maintain a face-to-face assembly with South Korean A-bomb survivors residing in Hiroshima through the G-7 summit.
“Japan’s international ministry is principally in charge of the G-7 leaders’ schedule, so President Yoon might not have time to fulfill us,” Kwon mentioned with a combination of anticipation and dread.
The monument’s epigraph reads, “The Monument in Reminiscence of the Korean Victims of the A-Bomb: In reminiscence of the souls of His Highness Prince Lee-Woo and over 20,000 different souls.” The prince was a nephew of Prince Lee-Eun, also referred to as Yi Un, the final crown prince of the Joseon Dynasty.
Prince Lee-Woo (additionally is aware of as Yi U) got here to Japan in 1922 to obtain schooling as a navy man. He was lieutenant colonel within the Second Common Military positioned in Hiroshima in August 1945. He was using his horse to work when the bomb exploded. He fled westward, however by the point he reached the west finish of Honkawa Bridge, he was not in a position to transfer. He died the following day.
In 1970, the monument to Korean victims of the atomic bombing was initially erected close to the place the place the prince was discovered lifeless.
Nevertheless, within the Eighties, folks started to query why the monument was outdoors of the Peace Memorial Park, with critics saying the placement symbolized ethnic discrimination. The memorial was relocated to Peace Memorial Park in response to sturdy requests from the Mindan, in addition to residents and college students on college excursions.
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