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Overseas A-bomb victims seek funds
Two representatives of A-bombing survivors residing abroad on July 3 urged the Health and Welfare Ministry to provide financial aid under the A-Bomb Sufferers' Relief Law that survivors in Japan receive.
The representatives are Chong Sansok, 68, president of the 2,300-member South Korean Association of A-bomb Sufferers, and Kanji Kuramoto, head of the U.S. Association of A-bomb Sufferers, with 1,000 members.
The two visited the ministry accompanied by 10 members on HIDANKYO.
Officials of the ministry's Health Service Bureau reiterated its stance that such relief falls within the framework of social welfare assistance and therefore only survivors residing in Japan are eligible.
After meeting with ministry officials, Chong told a news conference that he dose not understand why A-bomb attack survivors living overseas face discrimination.
The law does not have a provision specifying that only those survivors living in Japan are eligible for assistance. However, the ministry's bureau chief issued a notice in 1974 stating that those survivors living overseas are not eligible.
