President Lee Jae Myung on Aug. 1 gives a speech at a meeting with the heads of the country's cities and provinces at the Office of the President in Seoul. (Office of the President)

By Kim Hyelin

President Lee Jae Myung, speaking on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 5, said, "I express my deepest condolences and words of consolation to the Korean victims of the atomic bomb and their bereaved families, as they suffered the double and triple whammies of the turmoil of history in a country not their own."

The day before, he posted on his Facebook page a message titled "Engraving the promise of peace on a history of suffering" for such victims.

"The two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan 80 years ago took away countless lives in the blink of an eye," President Lee said. "Our compatriots in Japan had to make a great sacrifice, and the victims and their bereaved families have suffered for a long time."

"The Special Act on Support for Korean Atomic Bomb Victims was enacted in 2017 to lay the foundation for practical support, but considering how much time has passed, many areas remain insufficient," he added. "The government will continue working to heal the scars of nuclear bombings."

"Each year, Korea and Japan hold memorial services to console the souls of the victims," he said. "I express my deepest gratitude to Mindan (Korean Residents Union in Japan) for erecting a memorial monument and hosting related services on behalf of the homeland."

"We will reinforce the value of peace so that the calamity of war will not recur."

The BBC shed light on the Korean victims of the Hiroshima bombing to mark the 80th anniversary of the incident.

In the article "Disfigured, shamed and forgotten: BBC visits the Korean survivors of the Hiroshima bomb," the network said, "The devastation wrought by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which precipitated the end of both World War Two and Japanese imperial rule across large swaths of Asia – has been well-documented over the past eight decades. Less well-known is the fact that about 20% of the immediate victims were Koreans."

This is a monument to Korean victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. (Yonhap News)