Seoul Court: S. Korea Must Compensate Vietnam War Victim

Facts

• This marks the first time South Korea is held responsible for a massacre of civilians during the Vietnam War, likely setting a precedent in the country and encouraging victims of other alleged mass killings to file similar lawsuits.
• The Seoul Central District Court ruled Tuesday that the South Korean government must pay some $24K, with interest, to compensate a Vietnamese woman who was shot and lost relatives during the 1968 Phong Nhị massacre.
• Thanh was seven when South Korean marines reportedly killed more than 70 civilians, including five of her family members, and wounded another 20 in Quang Nam province just weeks before US troops committed the My Lai massacre.
• Seoul claimed that Vietnamese nationals couldn't file a lawsuit at a Korean court due to an international treaty, that the massacre could also have been carried out by the communist Viet Cong disguised as Koreans, or justified due to the nature of guerrilla warfare, but the court rejected those arguments.
• The verdict comes after the now 62-year-old Nguyen Thị Thanh filed a compensation lawsuit against the South Korean government in 2020, seeking an apology along with financial compensation.
• The court drew on her testimony as well as testimonies of other Vietnamese villagers and South Korean War veterans, including former marine Ryu Jin-seong who provided a first-hand account of how soldiers shot at unarmed civilians.

Sources: New York Times, Al Jazeera, Npr Online News, Korea JoongAng Daily, Korea Times, and Washington Post.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Vice. After decades of government coverups, Thahn's successful lawsuit has finally achieved a de facto acknowledgment of atrocities committed by Korean troops during the war in Vietnam. In the face of extensive official documentation proving that these wartime crimes against civilians indeed took place, the Korean government should now outright admit wrongdoing and apologize to victims.
• Narrative B, as provided by Warfare History Network. South Korea became involved in the Vietnam War following a formal request made by the South Vietnamese government for military assistance as communists escalated violence, engaging in counterinsurgency and medically treating over 30K civilians. While it is true that civilians could have been killed by Korean troops, this wrongdoing calls attention to the monstrosity of war and the incomprehensible reality of battlefield rage. More must be done to address the root causes, and not just by South Korea.