A Double Bomb, Prolonged Colonization, and Resistance: The Lives of Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors

Abstract

After the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered, liberating Korea from colonial rule. This study explores the lives and changing perceptions of both first-generation Korean atomic bomb survivors (ABSs) who lived in Japan as colonial subjects and second-generation ABSs. We interviewed ten Korean ABSs-six first-generation and four second-generation. As non-Japanese nationals, Korean ABSs were denied appropriate medical care and excluded from compensation, described by some as a “double bomb” or “double discrimination.” Although eighty years have passed since the end of both the war and Japanese colonization, the complex political situation in Korea and abroad has left Korean ABSs in an extended colonial condition. Their experiences reveal a unique tragedy and life narrative that are absent from Japanese ABS accounts.