원폭생존자가 '그날'의 참상을 증언했다

2017년도 노벨상 시상식에서 반핵단체 핵무기폐기국제운동(ICAN)을 대표해 노벨평화상을 받은 그가 연설을 통해 끔찍했던 당시의 경험을 털어놨다.

'노벨위원회'에 올라온 그의 연설 전문을 보면, 그는 "나는 아직도 그날 아침을 생생하게 기억한다"고 말문을 열었다. 그는 "오전 8시 15분, 창문을 통해 눈을 뜰 수 없을 정도로 푸른빛이 도는 흰색 섬광을 봤고, 마치 공중에 떠 있는듯한 느낌을 받았다. 내가 고요와 어둠 속에서 의식을 되찾았을 때 나는 무너진 건물 아래 갇혀 꼼짝도 못 하는 상태였고, 같은 반 친구들의 희미한 울음소리를 들었다. 그들은 '엄마, 도와주세요. 하느님, 도와주세요'라고 말하고 있었다"고 기억을 떠올렸다.

"유령 같은 모습을 한 사람들이 발을 질질 끌며 걸어 다녔고, 괴이한 모습으로 다친 사람들은 피를 흘렸고, 불에 타거나 부어올라 있었다. 그들의 신체 일부는 사라지고 없었다. 살과 피부는 뼈에 매달려 있었고, 어떤 사람들은 손에 자신의 안구를 들고 있었다. 복부가 파열돼 창자가 드러나 보이는 사람도 있었다. 불에 탄 살의 악취가 가득했다. 폭탄 한 개로 내가 사랑하던 도시가 완전히 없어졌다. 주민 대부분은 민간인이었다. 그들은 타버리거나, 증발하거나, 숯이 돼버렸다. 그들 중에는 내 가족과 351명의 학교 친구들도 있었다. 그 후 수주, 수달, 수년에 걸쳐 수천 명이 방사선 때문에 무차별적이고 이해할 수 없는 방식으로 죽어 나갔고, 방사선은 지금까지도 생존자들 죽이고 있다."

2차 세계대전 당시 미국이 일본 히로시마에 투하한 원자폭탄으로 약 14만명이 사망했고, 사흘 뒤 나가사키 원폭 투하로 7만4천여 명이 숨졌다.

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히로시마의 생존자들 : 무슨 일이 있었는지 더 많은 사람이 알아야 한다

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원자폭탄의 공격이 지나간 후, 히로시마에 남은 일상적인 물건들(사진)

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서로 세츠코 연설 전문

Distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I speak as a member of the family of hibakusha - those of us who, by some miraculous chance, survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For more than seven decades, we have worked for the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

We were not content to be victims. We refused to wait for an immediate fiery end or the slow poisoning of our world. We refused to sit idly in terror as the so-called great powers took us past nuclear dusk and brought us recklessly close to nuclear midnight. We rose up. We shared our stories of survival. We said: humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.

I was just 13 years old when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb, on my city Hiroshima. I still vividly remember that morning. At 8:15, I saw a blinding bluish-white flash from the window. I remember having the sensation of floating in the air.

Then, suddenly, I felt hands touching my left shoulder, and heard a man saying: "Don't give up! Keep pushing! I am trying to free you. See the light coming through that opening? Crawl towards it as quickly as you can." As I crawled out, the ruins were on fire. Most of my classmates in that building were burned to death alive. I saw all around me utter, unimaginable devastation.

Thus, with one bomb my beloved city was obliterated. Most of its residents were civilians who were incinerated, vaporized, carbonized - among them, members of my own family and 351 of my schoolmates.

Whenever I remember Hiroshima, the first image that comes to mind is of my four-year-old nephew, Eiji - his little body transformed into an unrecognizable melted chunk of flesh. He kept begging for water in a faint voice until his death released him from agony.

Through our agony and the sheer struggle to survive - and to rebuild our lives from the ashes - we hibakusha became convinced that we must warn the world about these apocalyptic weapons. Time and again, we shared our testimonies.

Nine nations still threaten to incinerate entire cities, to destroy life on earth, to make our beautiful world uninhabitable for future generations. The development of nuclear weapons signifies not a country's elevation to greatness, but its descent to the darkest depths of depravity. These weapons are not a necessary evil; they are the ultimate evil.

All responsible leaders will sign this treaty. And history will judge harshly those who reject it. No longer shall their abstract theories mask the genocidal reality of their practices. No longer shall "deterrence" be viewed as anything but a deterrent to disarmament. No longer shall we live under a mushroom cloud of fear.

To every president and prime minister of every nation of the world, I beseech you: Join this treaty; forever eradicate the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Tonight, as we march through the streets of Oslo with torches aflame, let us follow each other out of the dark night of nuclear terror. No matter what obstacles we face, we will keep moving and keep pushing and keep sharing this light with others. This is our passion and commitment for our one precious world to survive.