The "Atomic Bomb Victim Welfare Fund" run by the Korean National Red Cross with government support is going to run out of money by the year after next and that will force the program to cease to continue. The fund was created with 4 billion Yen in seed money from the Japanese government following a Korea-Japan summit in 1990, during the Roh Tae Woo presidency. The government pledged to give the same amount as Japan did, but it gave a measly W200 million a year until 2000, when it started providing between W1 and W3 billion yearly.
There are only around 2,300 a-bomb victims receiving support from the fund and all it provides are for the portions individuals are supposed to pay for their treatment expenses, W100,000 a month in treatment fee assistance, and about W1.5 million in funeral fee support. In the 60 years between Liberation and 2005 victims were virtually neglected, they were out of the sights government support. That is truly distressing and shameful.
Those who were exposed to the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped over Japan themselves suffer from cancer and other diseases, but the suffering carries on to their children and grandchildren, who suffer from rare incurable sicknesses. A study by the National Human Rights Commission described as much in February. A considerable number of the victims have hidden the fact they suffer from related ailments because they fear being socially ostracized and discrimination, and there is no detailed study that includes their children.
When the Dokdo dispute broke out recently, the government said it might go to the Japanese government with the issue of atomic bomb victims and the matter of the "military comfort women," both of which were not mentioned in the Korea-Japan treaty of 1965. Victims, however, need immediate medical protection. Their plight should be treated as an urgent human rights issue ahead of being brought up diplomatically with Japan.
The adoption of a "special law" on the matter should be considered as a strong potential fundamental solution. Government officials are at a consensus about the need for legislation, and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) is reportedly soon to introduce a bill. If you think of the victims' suffering, action should be taken quickly.
The Hankyoreh, 4 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] A 'Special Law' for A-Bomb Victims |
