Korean Nuclear Diaspora

Korean Nuclear Diaspora: Redress Movements of Korean Atomic-bomb Victims in Japan comprehensively explores the history of Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the bombings and Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, these Korean atomic-bomb victims dispersed across Japan, South Korea, and North Korea, and have often been left without any relief or redress for decades. Focusing on those Korean victims living in Japan, the author thoroughly examines how they have struggled to achieve recognition and support. Based on intensive fieldwork, archival research, and interviews with key figures from the Korean redress movement, this book analyzes how their movements have been significantly affected and constrained by the Cold War, unresolved colonial relations between Korea and Japan, nationalistic tensions between North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, and the national division both in the Korean Peninsula and within the Korean community in Japan. Despite these difficulties, the redress movements of Korean nuclear victims in Japan were sustained by their unique ideal of national “unification” and joint efforts with Korean and Japanese citizens, the history of which can deconstruct the mainstream narratives of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.