"We have genuflected before the gods of science only to find that is has given us the atomic bomb, producing fear and anxieties that science can never mitigate" (Martin Luther King qtd. in The Columbia World of Quotations). August 6, 1945 was the day that World War II took a severe turn with the atomic bomb hitting Hiroshima. Three days later on the 9th, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a drastic decision made by the United States, which produced an aftermath that would devastate the two cities for years. The usage and repercussions of the atomic bomb has now resulted in anxiety with the thought that North Korea might possess nuclear power. I intend to show that the dropping of the atomic bomb was the beginning of world nuclear power struggle. .
When the atomic bomb went off over Hiroshima on August 6, .
1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a flash. When the atomic bomb went off in Nagasaki on August 9th, more then 60,000 people died (Hogan 1). To the American people who were weary from the long and brutal war, such a drastic measure seemed necessary, even righteous way to end the madness that was World War II. However, the madness had just begun. That August morning was the day that started the dawn of the Nuclear Age, and with it came more than just the loss of lives. The entire globe was now to live with the fear of total annihilation, the fear that drove the cold war, the fear that has forever changed world politics. The fear is real, more real today than ever. The stories and fears that followed the dropping of the bomb should had been the reason why the United States should have never took the war to a nuclear point.
The story of Kwak Bok Soon is a story that would make anyone's skin crawl. She was only 17 years old when the bomb was dropped. Her neighbor was waiting for her to come to the door, when Kwak heard a loud explosion and her house collapsed on top of her.