Court sides with victim of Korean military's Vietnam War atrocities

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sun, October 1, 2023 | 17:16

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Court sides with victim of Korean military's Vietnam War atrocities

Posted : 2023-02-07 16:59

Updated : 2023-02-08 16:47

Nguyen Thi Thanh expresses her feelings through a video chat after the Central District Court orders the Korean government to pay approximately 30 million won and losses incurred by the delay to her, Tuesday. Newsis

By Lee Yeon-woo

A district court has ruled in favor of a Vietnamese national who filed a lawsuit against the Korean government for the 1968 atrocities committed by Korean troops against Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War.

It is the first time that a Korean court ruled against the Korean government regarding the atrocities committed by the ROK Marine Corps.

On Tuesday, the Central District Court ordered the Korean government to pay approximately 30 million won and losses incurred by the delay.

"(Then) the soldiers of the 2nd Korean Marine Brigade entered the plaintiff's house and threatened the family members at gunpoint to force them outside. And then they fired at them. The court acknowledges that the family members of the plaintiff were killed on the spot and the plaintiff was seriously wounded as a consequence," the ruling reads. "This is obviously illegal."

The court denied the Korean government's claim that a Vietnamese national cannot file a lawsuit against the Korean government as stated in the military accord signed among Korea, the United States and Vietnam, saying that the agreement signed by military authorities and government institutions itself didn't make Vietnamese civilians ineligible to seek compensation from the Korean government.

During the trial, the Korean government denied its responsibility for the killings and claimed that there is no evidence supporting allegations of the marines' involvement in the atrocities. It further claimed self-defense even if civilians were killed.

The court ruled after hearing testimonies from a Korean Vietnam War veteran and a Vietnamese national who was then part of a civilian defense group established to protect the village.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 62, filed a compensation suit against the Korean government in 2020. As a victim of a wartime massacre by Korean marines, she has sought an apology from the Korean government along with 30,000,100 won ($ 23,866) in compensation ― the minimum amount required for a court ruling.

The troops in question were from the 2nd Marine Division, also known as Blue Dragon Division. They allegedly killed 74 unarmed civilians in the villages of Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat of Quang Nam Province in Vietnam, where Nguyen lived, on Feb. 12, 1968.

"Korean soldiers shouted and threatened families with grenades to come outside," Nguyen said at the Seoul Central District Court, last August. She is the first Vietnamese to testify about the atrocities before a Korean court.

Troops of the 2nd Marine Division, or Blue Dragon Division, move a wounded person to a helicopter during a mission in 1966. Korea Times file

At the court, Nguyen testified that Korean soldiers shot and stabbed her family, and set fire to the house. At eight years old, she narrowly escaped and was later admitted to a nearby hospital with a bullet wound in her stomach. She lost five family members.

Her uncle, Nguyen Duc Choi, 83, also testified that "the troops were Koreans." He saw the scene with binoculars on the way to the village. "The soldiers were gathered in the village, and (as they fired guns) villagers collapsed. They threw grenades after that." He recovered bodies with U.S. soldiers and surviving residents.

Despite testimonies, the Korean government has never officially acknowledged any massacre of Vietnamese civilians by its troops. The government's stance is that those massacres "had been carried out by Viet Cong insurgents, disguised as Korean soldiers." The government has also claimed the possibility that residents in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat could have been mistaken as the enemy by the Korean soldiers.

"Why did the Korean army fire guns and throw grenades at my family, who were just women and children?" Nguyen Thi Thanh asked during her visit to the National Assembly in 2018. "I ask this question here on behalf of the other victims, families, and the deceased. Why doesn't the Korean military recognize this wrongdoing and apologize?"

yanu@koreatimes.co.kr