South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) helps a Korean victim of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing take a seat during a meeting with a group of Korean victims at a hotel in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — President Yoon Suk Yeol has extended an invitation to a group of Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in Hiroshima during the upcoming Chuseok holiday, a presidential official said Saturday.
“President Yoon has invited Korean atomic bomb victims to South Korea for the Chuseok holiday,” the official told Yonhap News Agency. This year’s Chuseok fall harvest holiday will take place from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1.
During his visit to Hiroshima for a Group of Seven summit in May, Yoon met with Korean survivors of the bombing, which occurred just before the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japan’s colonial rule.
The official invitation aims to showcase to the victims how much their homeland has transformed and developed, allowing them to experience the festive spirit of the holiday, the official said.
The visit will be organized by a newly established government agency responsible for assisting overseas Koreans, which was launched in June.
Around 50,000 Koreans fell victim to the atomic bombing, including 30,000 killed, after many were brought to Japan to work as forced laborers during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, according to the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association.
(Yonhap)
