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atomic bomb
Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Seek Justice
The International People’s Tribunal On The 1945 U.S. Atomic Bombings wants to hold the United States accountable for the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Jun 16, 2024
On June 8, 2024, in Hiroshima, Japan, the International People’s Tribunal On The 1945 U.S. Atomic Bombings met with the goal of holding the United States accountable for the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This people’s tribunal focuses on the Korean bomb victims, 100,000 of whom were forcibly taken from their homeland by the Japanese to work in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the war and were subsequently exposed to the A-bomb blasts.
The recent tribunal gathering in Hiroshima consisted of legal scholars from Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States discussing legal theories to hold the U.S. accountable for violating international law for the 1945 atomic bombings, and attempting to establish the illegality of current nuclear threats and nuclear weapon states.
The tribunal and its Korean plaintiffs are also seeking an official apology from the United States to the Korean victims for the dropping of the two atomic bombs. First and second-generation victims of these bombings were present at the conference and gave powerful testimony as to the multigenerational effects from the bomb blasts.
To apologize would be an expression of regret and an accepting of responsibility by the United States, an acknowledgement that the bombing of these two civilian sites was unlawful and inflicted multigenerational pain and suffering on the victims.
The tribunal itself will hold its opening gavel proceedings in New York City in May of 2026 to coincide with the United Nations meeting on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
Participants in the June 8 conference were given a tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which solemnly exhibits the horrific events of August 6, 1945. Throughout the museum are displays of the burnt and tattered remnants of children’s clothing, charred bicycles, panoramas of the city after detonation, and graphic pictures of atomic bomb victims staggering toward the rivers of Hiroshima in a futile effort to extinguis h their pain.
In a single white flash, some 70,000 souls were extinguished at 8:15 am on that August day. Black Rain followed, pouring down on the alive and the barely alive radioactive water. Charred bodies covered the ground and filled the rivers.
A stone step with the vague outline of a human shadow forever singed into it rests in the museum, allowing the viewer to ponder a person sitting there at the time of the blast, casting a shadow on the stone beneath them as the rest of the stone was bleached by radioactive light from the A-bomb blast. In the Peace Park on a grass hill is Memorial Mound, where the unclaimed ashes of tens of thousands of victims are stored.
Such images linger: A person incinerated and reduced to a shadow. A river so filled with charred corpses no one can enter its waters. Burnt skin falling from bodies like flaps of clothing. The bustling city turned to a hellscape of fire. A grass hill transformed to a charnel house. On an August morning, Hiroshima became Dante’s Inferno.
Cancers and keloids developed in the decades ahead, continuing to inflict pain and again victimize the Koreans who had been forcibly removed there. Healthcare for the ongoing illnesses was not provided to the Koreans by the Japanese or the U.S. For the past 79 years, they suffered.
But now they seek redress and justice.
The Koreans seek an apology from the United States for what has happened to them over these last eight decades. With dignity and great strength, they stood together on this June weekend of 2024 stating their case and asking that their plight be recognized.
Why now? What would an apology mean to the Korean victims?
To apologize would be an expression of regret and an accepting of responsibility by the United States, an acknowledgement that the bombing of these two civilian sites was unlawful and inflicted multigenerational pain and suffering on the victims. An apology would be a step toward reconciliation and lasting peace.
And why a people’s tribunal comprised of Korean, Japanese, American, European and other nationalities? What can its members hope to accomplish against powerful nation-states? Through the rule of law and the justice of international courts, they hope to gain legal remedy. And, equally important, they seek to stand with the victims. As legendary peace activist Philip Berrigan said, “Until we go into the breach with the victims, the victimization will not cease.”
During the conference, a memorial service to the Korean victims was held in the Peace Park. Japanese representatives spoke, Korean victims spoke, and in the audience were Americans invited to participate in the tribunal. People from three countries connected by the atomic bombings and bearing unreconciled grievances were present at this memorial service. At Ground Zero of the blast, they attempted to heal and reconcile, to move forward into a world without nuclear weapons.
The people, the citizens, are ready. The governments of each country must now follow. This tribunal seeks to make that happen.
“If the U.S., which bears the original sin, admits and apologizes for the responsibilities of the atomic bombings in 1945, then no country will ever contemplate using nuclear weapons. This is why I am participating as a plaintiff in the International People’s Tribunal to hold the U.S. accountable for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said Kee-youl Lee, from the First Generation of Korean Victims.
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In GOP's Latest 'Clear Call to Genocide,' Lawmaker Calls for Nuclear Bombing of Gaza
"To so casually call for what would result in the killing of every human being in Gaza sends the chilling message that Palestinian lives have no value," said one Palestinian rights advocate.
Mar 30, 2024
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg became the latest Republican lawmaker to openly call for the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza, saying at a town hall that instead of sending humanitarian aid to starving civilians there, the U.S. should "get it over quick" by dropping a nuclear bomb on the besieged enclave.
The Michigan Republican was asked by a voter why taxpayer money was being spent to build a port off the coast of Gaza at an event in the town of Dundee, in a video that was apparently recorded on March 25 and posted to social media on Saturday.
"We shouldn't be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima," said Walberg, referring to the two Japanese cities where the U.S. detonated two atomic bombs in 1945, killing an estimated 214,000 people and leaving survivors with the effects of radiation, including chronic and deadly diseases.
Walberg's comments were made public a day after it was reported that the Biden administration had approved the transfer of new weapons to the Israel Defense Forces, including 2,000-pound bombs like those that have already made Israel's bombardment one of the deadliest and most destructive in modern history.
The White House has called on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, where at least 31 people—including 27 children—have already died of starvation as a result of Israel's near-total blockade on aid since October. Parts of northern Gaza are now experiencing famine, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global initiative (IPC), after months of warnings from experts that a man-made famine would eventually take hold unless humanitarian aid increased significantly.
The Israel Defense Forces' U.S.-backed bombardment of the enclave has killed at least 32,705 Palestinians so far.
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Walberg's "clear call to genocide... should be condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law."
"To so casually call for what would result in the killing of every human being in Gaza sends the chilling message that Palestinian lives have no value," said Walid. "It is this dehumanization of the Palestinian people that has resulted in the ongoing slaughter and suffering we see every day in Gaza and the West Bank."
Mitchell Rivard, chief of staff to Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), said Walberg's comments illustrate "the Republican position on Gaza."
Earlier this month, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) told a group of Palestinian rights advocates, "Goodbye to Palestine"—leading Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) to say he had called "for the genocide of the Palestinian people."
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) in February told an activist, "I think we should kill 'em all," when asked about Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel with U.S. military support, while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for Israel to "level the place" soon after the war started.
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On Nagasaki Anniversary, UN Chief Warns 'Humanity Now Confronts a New Arms Race'
"We will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons," he said, calling for abolishing such arms.
Aug 09, 2023
Nearly eight decades after the United States dropped an atomic bomb codenamed "Fat Man" on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday was among the voices around the world renewing calls for eliminating nuclear weapons.
In a message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the 78th anniversary of the 1945 bombing, Guterres said that "this ceremony is an opportunity to remember a moment of unmatched horror for humanity."
"We mourn those killed, whose memory will never fade. We remember the terrible destruction wrought upon this city and Hiroshima," he continued, referencing the Japanese city that was bombed a few days earlier. "We honor the unrelenting strength and resilience of the people of Nagasaki to rebuild."
"And we recognize the brave hibakusha, whose powerful and harrowing testimonies will forever stand as a reminder that we must achieve a world free of these inhumane weapons," he added, using the Japanese term for survivors of the World War II attacks.
In their name and in memory of the devastation decades ago, Guterres has made eliminating nuclear weapons the U.N.'s highest disarmament priority—at a time when the world is facing fresh threats of nuclear war.
Without naming any nations, Guterres declared Wednesday that "despite the terrible lessons of 1945, humanity now confronts a new arms race. Nuclear weapons are being used as tools of coercion."
"Weapons systems are being upgraded, and placed at the center of national security strategies, making these devices of death faster, more accurate, and stealthier. All this, at a moment when division and mistrust are pulling countries and regions apart," he pointed out. "The risk of nuclear catastrophe is now at its highest level since the Cold War."
Like the Cold War, the United States and Russia have by far the largest stockpiles of the nine nuclear-armed nations—though China is working to significantly boost its arsenal. The other countries with nukes are France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.
Fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe have ramped up since early last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, which is receiving military and humanitarian aid from multiple countries, including the United States.
Leaders in Moscow have repeatedly made nuclear threats throughout the ongoing war. Citing a 2020 decree from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev—a former president who is now deputy chair of the country's Security Council—said late last month that if Ukraine's counteroffensive to force out invaders and reclaim territories is successful, "we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon."
Just days later, leading medical journals published a joint editorial warning that "current nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts are inadequate to protect the world's population against the threat of nuclear war by design, error, or miscalculation."
Noting that a U.S.-Russia war involving nukes "could kill 200 million people or more in the near term and potentially cause a global 'nuclear winter' that could kill 5-6 billion people, threatening the survival of humanity," the editorial stresses that "the prevention of any use of nuclear weapons is therefore an urgent public health priority" and advocates for abolition.
Guterres similarly said that "we will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons" and "the only way to eliminate the nuclear risk is to eliminate nuclear weapons."
"The United Nations will continue working with global leaders to strengthen the global disarmament and nonproliferation regime—including through the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons," pledged the U.N. chief, who last month launched a New Agenda for Peace policy brief that prioritizes disarmament.
"We can never forget what happened here," he added of the devastation in Japan. "We must lift the shadow of nuclear annihilation, once and for all. No more Nagasakis. No more Hiroshimas."
Guterres was far from alone in using the somber occasion to demand the abolition of nuclear weapons.
A peace declaration read during the Wednesday ceremony by Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki—and translated to English by The Mainichi—notes that the 1945 attack "stole the lives of 74,000 people by the end of the year. The hibakusha who survived developed leukemia, cancer, and other diseases years and decades after the bombing battle with suffering and anxiety due to the effects of radiation even now."
Echoing Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui's Sunday speech about that city's bombing, the Nagasaki declaration asserts that "as long as states are dependent on nuclear deterrence, we cannot realize a world without nuclear weapons. Eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth is the only way to truly protect our safety."
"Please visit the atomic bombing sites, see with your own eyes and sense the consequences of nuclear weapons. Please listen to the testimonies of hibakusha, a common inheritance of humankind that must continue to be talked about throughout the world," said Suzuki, whose parents were survivors. "Knowing the reality of the atomic bombings is the starting point for achieving a world without nuclear weapons, and could also be the driving force for changing the world."
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