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| Rep. Kang Min-jung, center, speaking on the microphone, of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Lawmakers urged the government, Thursday, to launch a probe into atrocities committed by Korean troops during their 1964-73 participation in the Vietnam War.
The bill proposed by Rep. Kang Min-jung of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and 24 other opposition lawmakers is aimed to launch a special investigation committee to uncover massacres, cruelty, sexual assaults and imprisonments committed by Korean soldiers against Vietnamese civilians at the time.
Kang said she visited Vietnam last week and met survivors of the atrocities who are still holding joint memorial ceremonies to grieve the losses from the massacres. As Korea has been demanding that Japan acknowledge and apologize for its imperial war crimes, including wartime sex slavery, it must set an example by taking historic responsibility, she said.
Vietnamese massacre survivor Nguyen Thi Thanh, 62, also spoke via a prerecorded video message during the press conference.
"I was only 11 (when the massacre happened) … I visited Korea several times and turned in many petitions and letters but was disappointed to receive no response," she said, urging the Korean government and the National Assembly to investigate.
Earlier this month, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Nguyen and ordered the Korean government to pay about 30 million won ($23,513) in compensation for the Republic of Korea Marine Corps' involvement in civilian massacres beginning Feb. 12, 1968. The atrocities saw 74 unarmed Vietnamese civilians killed, including the plaintiff's five family members, in the village of Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat of Quang Nam Province.
According to Kim Nam-ju, a managing attorney at Dodam law firm who led Nguyen's case to victory, the court ruling, which was announced 11 years after the plaintiff's first demand to the Korean government for an apology, is so far the first and only decision that acknowledges a country's involvement in civilian massacres during the Vietnam War.
"In this time where the war in Ukraine is still ongoing and international humanitarian laws have been violated, the court ruling has significance in world history," the lawyer said. "But this is a win for only one individual. And there are many more victims who wish to see the truth uncovered."
However, the Ministry of National Defense denied the allegations made against it.
During the National Assembly's National Defense Committee meeting last Friday, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said the ministry "does not agree with" the court ruling and explained that the ministry's findings show no civilians were killed by Korean troops at the time.
Groups for Korean veterans of the Vietnam War also disagreed with the court ruling.
Rep. Kim Sung-won of the conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) who is a member of the Vietnam Veterans Associations Korea (VVAK) and other veteran groups, held a press conference at the National Assembly, also on Thursday, to denounce the court ruling for "damaging (Korea's) national status" and dishonoring the veterans and their families. They called for the domestic ruling to be put on hold until they get a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The Korean government has never issued an official statement or apology regarding this issue.
