Hiroshima vice governor meets atomic bomb survivors in South Korea
Yokota Mika visited Hapcheon in the southern part of the country on Saturday. It is often dubbed "South Korea's Hiroshima," as it is home to many survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The vice governor toured a facility featuring exhibits conveying the tragedy, and laid flowers at a hall housing tablets memorializing victims.
Yokota sat town for talks with atomic bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, and their children.
Some survivors shared their experiences in Hiroshima, while others said little progress has been made toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Some hibakusha also said details have not been disclosed about people from the Korean Peninsula who were exposed to the atomic bombings. They called on Japanese authorities to cooperate in revealing the extent of suffering they had experienced.
After the meeting, Yokota said she was able to hear the South Korean survivors' experiences and thoughts for the first time. She added that she will take what they said into consideration in an effort to promote world peace and eliminate nuclear arms.
The head of a Korean atomic bomb victims' association, Lee Gyu-youl, said it was significant that a senior official of a Japanese local government met with South Korean hibakusha, as 2025 marks 80 years since the atomic bombings.
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