Wetin hapun for Hiroshima 80 years ago? Survivors speak of disfigurement, shame and pain

BBC News

05-08-2025

At 08:15 on August 6, 1945, Lee Jung-soon bin dey on her way to elementary school, wen nuclear bomb bin fall like stone through di skies ova Hiroshima.
Ms Lee wey be 88-year-old now wave her hands as if she dey try erase di memory.
"My father bin dey on im way to work, but suddenly e run back to wia we dey and tell us to evacuate immediately," she recall. "Dead body full di road – but I bin dey so shocked all I remember na say I dey cry. I just dey cry and cry."
Di body of victims "melt na only dia eyes bin", Ms Lee tok, as blast wey equal to 15,000 tons of TNT cover di city of 420,000 pipo. Wetin remain after na dead bodies wey scata beyond identification.
"Di atomic bomb… na terrifying weapon."
E don reach 80 years since di United States bin detonate 'Little Boy', humanity first-ever atomic bomb, ova di centre of Hiroshima, wey instantly kill some 70,000 pipo. Tens of thousands die in di coming months from radiation sickness, burns and dehydration.
Di devastation wey di bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – cause na im bring about di decision to end both World War Two and Japanese imperial rule across large areas of Asia.
One fact wey pipo no too sabi na say about 20% of di immediate victims na Koreans.
Korea bin dey part of Japanese colony for 35 years wen di bomb drop.
Estimated 140,000 Koreans bin dey live for Hiroshima at di time - many pipo bin move go dia sake of forced labour mobilisation, or to survive under colonial exploitation.
Those wey survive di atom bomb, plus dia descendants, still dey live for di long shadow of dat day – dem dey deal wit disfigurement, pain, and years of fight for justice wey dem still neva solve.
"Nobody take responsibility," Shim Jin-tae, one 83-year-old survivor tok. "Not di kontri wey drop di bomb. Not di kontri wey fail to protect us. America no eva apologise. Japan pretend like say dem no know. Korea no beta. Dem just pass di blame - and we dey left alone."
Mr Shim now dey live for Hapcheon, South Korea: one small county wey as e become home to dozens of survivors like im and Ms Lee, dem nickname am "Korea Hiroshima".
For Ms Lee, di shock of dat day neva fade – e dey inside her body as sickness. Now she dey live wit skin cancer, Parkinson disease, and angina, one condition wey poor blood flow to di heart dey cause, e dey typically manifest as chest pain.
But wetin dey painful pass na say di pain no stop wit her. Her son Ho-chang, wey dey support her, dey diagnosed wit kidney failure and e dey undergo dialysis as e dey wait for transplant.
"I believe say na sake of di radiation exposure, but who fit prove am?" Ho-chang Lee tok. "E dey hard to verify scientifically – you go need genetic testing, wey dey exhausting and expensive."
Di Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) tell BBC say dem don gada genetic data between 2020 and 2024 and go continue further studies until 2029.
Dem go "consider expanding di definition of victims" to second- and- third-generation survivors only "if di results dey statistically significant", dem tok.
Di Korean angle
Out of di 140,000 Koreans wey bin dey live for Hiroshima at di time of di bombing, many of dem bin come from Hapcheon.
Surrounded by mountains wit little farmland, na difficult place to live. Japanese occupiers bin seize dia crops, drought destroy di land, and thousands of pipo comot di rural kontri go Japan during di war. Dem force some to join di military; dem deceive odas wit promise say "dem fit chop three square meals a day and send dia children to school."
But for Japan, Koreans na second-class citizens – dem dey often give dem di hardest, dirtiest and most dangerous jobs. Oga Shim tok say im father bin work for one factory as forced labourer, while im mother dey hammer nails into wooden ammunition crates.
After di bomb, dis distribution of labour bin turn into dangerous and often deadly work for Koreans for Hiroshima.
Outcasts for house
"Korean workers get to clean up body of dead pipo," Oga Shim, wey be di director of di Hapcheon branch of di Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association, tell BBC Korean. "At first, dem dey use stretchers, but di bodies too many. Dem later come dey use dustpans to gada corpses and dey burn dem for schoolyards.
"Na mostly Koreans do dis work. Na us do most of di post-war clean-up and munitions work."
According to one study wey Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation carry out, dem force some survivors to clear di remains and recover bodies. While Japanese evacuees run go wia dia relatives dey, Koreans wey no get local ties remain for di city, exposed to di radioactive fallout – and wit limited access to medical care.
A combination of dis conditions - poor treatment, hazardous work and structural discrimination - all contribute to di extremely high death toll among Koreans.
According to di Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Association, Korean fatality rate na 57.1%, compared to di overall rate of about 33.7%.
About 70,000 Koreans bin dey exposed to di bomb. By di end of dat year, about 40,000 pipo die.