Choi Il Chul
International Meeting 2004 World Conference against A and H
bombs
Choi Il Chul
Former President, Korean Atomic Bomb Casualty Association
Korea
The Resolve from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Ban and Eliminate
Nuclear Weapons
Hello,
Despite our wish to establish a 21st century world
free from nuclear weapons and wars, an endless nuclear arm race
still continues.
In April 2003, at the talks held between the United States, North
Korea, and China, North Korea admitted that it possesses nuclear
weapons. North Korea's statement still has an adverse impact on
the multi-party talks on nuclear issues. If the United States permits North Korea to be the ninth nuclear
state of the world, Taiwan as well as Japan will possibly throw
away their principle of prohibitions nuclear weapons development,
and it will also enable other countries to look for a nuclear development
program. The world will be at risk if the U.S. Bush Administration launches
attacks against North Korea, as it did against Iraq, and makes the
mistake of dropping an A-bomb, which was the worst tragedy of the
20th century. In wars, both states and individuals lose their rational thinking.
We cannot expect any different if such a war starts. If a nuclear
war occurred in future, all of mankind would perish and the earth
would reach its doomsday. I was exposed to radiation in Hiroshima. Under Japan's cruel colonial
rule of the Korean Peninsula, many Korean people left home for Japan,
and some decided to live in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in search of a
better life. I was one of these people. In addition, due to Japan's
war of aggression, millions of young Korean people were forcibly
brought to Japan to work in the Japanese Imperial Army, munitions
factories, mines, and construction sites. Thus, we, the Koreans,
were also exposed to radiation. I was 12 years old at that time, in the sixth grade of primary
school. Although more than half a century has passed since then,
I still remember that hellish sight. Fourteen of my close relatives
died in a explosion or went missing. My older brother who was 19 at that time was exposed to radiation
in front of Fukuya Department Store in Haccho-bori, just a short
distance from the blast center. He died half a month later after
suffering from burn injuries all over his body. My father died three years later, and my mother died five years
later. The recently deceased pilot of the B29 who dropped an A-bomb
in Nagasaki, had long argued that A-bombings were inevitable. But,
during a media interview in 1995, he strongly said, "The duty
of dropping an A-bomb as I did must be that it never happens again." I
think this was his sincere feeling based on his conscience. A world without nuclear weapons is a common wish of all men and
women. With the present nuclear nonproliferation system in which
only handful of nations are allowed to possess nuclear weapons,
we will never fulfill our common goal. As long as nuclear weapons
exist on this earth, peace will never come to the world. Here, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let's together call on the
world to abolish nuclear weapons! Don't allow the creation of a
second Hiroshima and Nagasaki anywhere on this planet! Don't allow
repeating the same mistakes! I strongly call for the abolition of
nuclear weapons and a total ban on such weapons. Thank you.
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