Japan, South Korea, and the United States are all countries that carry painful memories of conflict. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, killing over 2,400 Americans, and the United States’s 1945 nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed an estimated 135,000 people in Hiroshima, and an estimated 64,000 in Nagasaki. Meanwhile, Japan forcibly ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945.
But today, young leaders from these countries are coming together to use technology to build peace. Japanese, South Korean, and American young leaders gathered in May for a workshop session focused on how new technologies can build peace. The event – part of the U.S. State Department–sponsored Young Trilateral Leaders series – brought 26 participants to the Hiroshima Bunka Koryu Kaikan. The workshop aimed to help the young leaders further their understanding of conflict resolution, inter-group reconciliation, and international relations from historical and cultural perspectives, George Mason University reported.
The opening ceremony began with remarks from Dean Alpaslan Özerdem of GMU’s Carter School, who discussed the workshop’s mission to empower youth with tech tools for peace. Remarks were also given by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, US Consul General for Osaka/Kobe Jason Cubas, and Republic of Korea Consul General Hojeung Kang. The young leaders worked in four multinational teams on plans addressing issues like AI, the challenges of misinformation and disinformation, cybersecurity, the transformative power of peace-oriented technology, and technological platforms for social reconciliation activities between Japan and Korea.
“We believe that empowering young people with the tools and skills of peacebuilding – especially through the innovative use of technology – unlocks tremendous potential for transformative change across societies,” Dean Özerdem said. He noted that holding the workshop in Hiroshima was especially meaningful. “Hiroshima, a city whose history powerfully reminds us of the critical need for peace and reconciliation,” he said. Özerdem added that the workshop was intended to build lasting partnerships with local peacebuilders.
The workshop series included four phases, with the Hiroshima session being the third phase. Phase one involved four weeks of online pre-learning. The second phase featured the first in-person workshop, held in Incheon, South Korea. The fourth phase was an online evaluation.
Last year, Peace News Network (PNN) wrote about another peace initiative related to Hiroshima. A Japanese organization consisting of survivors of the 1945 nuclear bombs that the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize on October 11. The group, Nihon Hindakyo, which was founded in 1956, sends survivors across the globe to share their stories about the suffering and damage caused by nuclear weapons.
The group says on its website that it has member organizations in all 47 Japanese prefectures, representing almost all survivors of the bombs, known as Hibakusha. It notes that tens of thousands of Hibakusha live in Japan, while thousands more live abroad. The group’s goals, it says, are preventing nuclear war and eliminating nuclear weapons, securing state compensation for atomic bomb damages, and improving policies and measures on the protection and assistance of the Hibakusha. To read the full article, click here.
Keywords: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Japan, United States, US, Korea, South Korea, tech, tech for peace, techonology, conflict, conflict resolution, reconciliation
