A professor's class debated the atomic bomb. One student disagreed with everyone else — but not for the reason the professor expected.

A US professor recalls the one international student who broke ranks in a class debate over the atomic bombings of Japan.

Translated by Klore · Published

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● Deep KoreaCulture shockPoliticsHow much Korea-context this story assumes. English translations and context by Klore.
Community postEnglish translation
Anonymous · 2026년 09월 10일

The thing East Asians and Westerners disagree on.jpg동아시아인과 서양인의 의견이 갈리는 거.jpg

In class I asked, 'Was it right for the US to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?' The American students said 'no' in unison, but one international student said 'yes' and made a solid case about ending the war early and saving Chinese lives.수업에서 나는 “미국이 일본에 핵폭탄을 투한한 것이 옳았나?”라고 물었다. 미국 학생들이 합창하듯 “아니”라고 했지만, 한 유학생이 “그렇다”고 말하며 전쟁을 일찍 끝내 중국인 생명을 구한 점에 대해 탄탄한 주장을 펼쳤다.

After class, he stayed behind to talk. I told him I appreciated him taking the opposite stance from everyone else.수업 후, 그는 남아서 이야기를 나눴다. 나는 그에게 다른 사람들과 반대 입장을 취해준 것에 감사한다고 말했다.

He shook his head and said, in a thick accent:그는 고개를 저으며, 강한 억양의 영어로 말했다.

'Crazy New York liberals.'“미친 뉴욕 리버럴들.”

That cracked me up.정말 웃겼다.

The atomic bomb...원폭...

Apparently in the West it's seen more as a war crime the US committed.서양에서는 미국이 저지른 전쟁범죄로 보는 경향이 강하다고함

179 replies on the original10k votes on the original
Trending on a Korean communityView original ↗
💡 Wait, why is 'crazy New York liberals' the punchline?
In much of the West the bombings are widely framed as a war crime, but many in East Asia see them as what ended a brutal war and occupation — so this student, expected to be anti-American, instead argued the pro-bomb side and mocked his liberal classmates for the opposite reason.vs. the US: like a foreign exchange student out-hawking your own classmates on a war debate.Klore note
💡 Why 'saved Chinese lives' and not Japanese ones?
Japan's WWII occupation of China included mass atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre, so many Chinese and Korean people frame the bombs as having stopped further slaughter across Asia, not just a US-Japan fight.vs. Europe: similar to arguments that Allied bombing shortened the Holocaust.Klore note

What Koreans said

11 top comments on the original thread, translated
  1. 149 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    If you told them 'no nukes means YOU get drafted to the Japan front' they'd be begging to drop a thousand bombs lmao

    핵폭탄 안쓰면 님들이 입대해서 일본 전선에 가야해요! 하면 핵 만발 떨구라고 할껄 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

  2. 99 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    Every time this comes up I realize it's just different lived experience - for us nukes meant liberation from oppressors, but they grew up doing duck-and-cover drills as kids

    저런 글 올라올때마다 느끼는건 걍 겪어본 방식이 달라서 그럼 우리에겐 핵무기는 독립을 위한 신호탄이자 압제자를 몰아낸 무기지만 쟤네들은 초등학생부터 책상 아래로 숨어서 핵무기 피하기를 경험하던 세대라

  3. 42 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    East and West just don't feel each other's tragedies the same way. Mention Auschwitz in the West, everyone freaks out, meanwhile Asians are like 'eh.' Flip it with the atomic bomb and it's the opposite

    애초에 서양이나 동양이랑은 서로가 서로에게 큰일이라고 못느끼는 상황이 자주 나올거같음 서양에서 나치 아우슈비츠 어쩌구하면 학을떼고 기겁하지만 동양에서는 그정돈 아닌데, 그와반대로 일본 원폭 어쩌구 하면 동양에서나 격한 반응이 나오는데 반에 서양은 흠 그정둔감 하는 경우가 더 많을거같음

Read all 11 translated repliesShow fewer replies
  1. 75 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    The fact they targeted civilians over soldiers is a big deal, though obviously nothing compares to Imperial Japan's beheading contests

    폭격 대상자를 군인보다는 민간인을 노렸다는게 큰 듯 물론 목베기시합하던 일제에 비할바겠냐마는

  2. 20 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    If they'd actually been dragged to Okinawa they'd say dropping the bomb was fucking based

    함 오키나와 끌려가봤어야 핵쏜거 ㅈㄴ 잘했다고 할껄

  3. 34 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    They probably never covered Operation Downfall in history class

    역사시간에 몰락작전 이야긴 안할테니깐

  4. 10 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    Rise up, Oppenheimer

    고개를 드십시오 오펜하이머

  5. 15 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    The collapse of public education right there

    공교육의 붕괴

  6. 15 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    'It's totally better if hundreds of thousands of our own soldiers die instead, lol'

    "자국군 수십만명 뒤지는게 더 낫다구요ㅎㅎ"

  7. 55 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    Do they actually even know the history though...?

    과연 진짜 알고있을까...?

  8. 12 upvotes on the original thread
    Anon· on the original thread

    The question itself was framed wrong - it should've been 'end the war with the bomb' vs 'end it with a land invasion instead,' not just 'was dropping it right or wrong'

    애초에 질문 자체가 핵폭탄을 떨구는게 옳은가 가 아니라 핵을 떨궈서 전쟁을 끝내야 했다/핵이 아닌 몰락작전으로 끝내야 했다 이런 식으로 나눠서 질문했어야 했네 그럼

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