Mock trial finds South Korean soldiers guilty of civilian massacres during Vietnam War

Posted on : 2018-04-23 17:25 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Non-binding citizens’ tribunal orders compensation to surviving family members
Nguyen Thi Thanh
Nguyen Thi Thanh

“Over 70 civilians were killed, and it is extremely questionable whether this can really be seen as an ‘unavoidable sacrifice’. . . . There are reasonable suspicions that civilian massacres by South Korean troops took place throughout their entire deployment period during the Vietnam War. . . . It is ordered that the Republic of Korea should pay compensation to the plaintiffs in accordance with the standards of the State Compensation Act and formally apologize so that the dignity and reputation of the plaintiffs may be restored.”

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 58, let out a light sigh as the court read out its sentence at 5 pm on Apr. 22 following a two-day mock trial on civilian massacres during the Vietnam War. A broad smile came across her previously stern face. The ruling awarding her compensation came 50 years to the day after she had lost five of her family members.

“I’m shaking all over,” Nguyen said. “I’m going to go back to Vietnam with good news. I think it may be able to ease at least a little of the suffering for the other victims.”

A two-day citizens’ tribunal was held on Apr. 21 and 22 at Oil Tank Culture Park in Seoul’s Mapo district to examine the truth of civilian massacres by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War.

Two women both named Nguyen Thi Thanh – one a 60-year-old victim from the village of Ha My where investigations showed South Korean soldiers to have taken 135 lives, the other a 58-year-old resident of the village of Phong Nhi/Phong Nhat where 74 people were killed – visited South Korea as plaintiffs in the suit demanding state compensation. In their case, they demanded an investigation and the payment of compensation from the South Korean governments for losses to themselves and their family members. As a mock trial, its decision has no binding force; the event itself was organized to urge a public debate on the issue of massacres of Vietnamese civilians.

The judges in the citizens’ tribunal – including former Supreme Court Justice Kim Young-ran, attorney and former Sewol ferry sinking special investigation committee head Lee Seok-tae, and Seoul National University law professor Yang Hyun-ah – sided with the plaintiffs on most of their claims. After first acknowledging based on victim testimony that over 200 civilians were killed in the two villages, the judges demanded that the South Korean government pay compensation and formally apologize to the two plaintiffs. Attorneys from the group MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society represented the Republic of Korea, which declined a summons to appear as a defendant.

The state representatives argued that the deaths were “unintended sacrifices occurring in guerrilla warfare conditions where the enemy and friendly forces were difficult to distinguish.” But the court concluded that they represented “deliberate massacres,” noting that “most victims were senior citizens, children, and women.” The judges also recommended an investigation into all illegal actions against civilians during the period of South Korean troops’ involvement in the war from 1964 to 1973.

Stressing the “need to ensure that the truth of the human rights violations is shared with future generations,” they ruled that the investigation outcome should be displayed at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan district or another exhibition space related to South Korean troops’ involvement in the war.

“We must honestly reveal and confront the unfortunate facts of the past, sharing the truth and providing both comfort and reasonable healing measures,” Lee Seok-tae declared on the morning of Apr. 21 by way of announcing the opening of the first day of the citizens’ tribunal. This was followed by a video shown in court with accounts from a South Korean soldier who was fighting at the time of the Phong Nhi/Phong Nhat massacre.

“A veteran soldier shot an old man who was pleading for his life,” the soldier recalled. “This is not the spirit of a soldier.”

Fifty-eight-year-old Nguyen Thi Thanh testified about her experiences in Phong Nhi/Phong Nhat as an eight-year-old girl. On Feb. 12, 1968, she suffered a gunshot wound to her stomach. Her older brother’s hip and younger brother’s mouth were also maimed, she recalled.

 a survivor of a massacre perpetrated by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War attends a citizens’ tribunal to discover the truth about the incident that was held at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Seoul’s Mapo district on Apr. 22. (by Park Jong-shik
a survivor of a massacre perpetrated by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War attends a citizens’ tribunal to discover the truth about the incident that was held at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Seoul’s Mapo district on Apr. 22. (by Park Jong-shik
“Even now I can hear the screaming from that day”

“One by one, we passed through a field covered in dead bodies, crying out, ‘Mother, mother.’ We found out that our mother was there in that mass of bodies. Apparently, she had been picking vegetables in the garden, and the South Korean soldiers herded people over to one side and killed them.” Ten days later, Ha My found itself in the same situation as Phong Nhi. A grenade thrown into an air-raid shelter robbed Nguyen Thi Thanh of the hearing in her left ear and killed her mother and younger brother.

“My brother was comatose for three days, saying, ‘Mama, get up and make me some rice,’ before he passed away. Even now, I can hear the screaming from that day. I can hear my brother calling out to our mother.”

As Nguyen shared her account, the interpreter, a 34-year-old also surnamed Nguyen, shed tears as well. Sobs echoed throughout the courtroom, including from representatives for the defense.

Some of the rules applied in the proceedings according to the citizens’ tribunal charter would not be applicable in an official trial. The statute of limitations and lapsing of compensation rights might prove the biggest barrier in an actual case, but the citizens’ tribunal charter states that “lapsing or limitation provisions do not apply.” The right to question the two plaintiffs was held only by the judges – a step to avoid causing additional suffering for women drawing on painful memories from 50 years ago.

The 300 or so citizens crowding the gallery sent their own message of solidarity. Students from Hopyeong Middle School in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, ran a publicity booth for two days and distributed images drawn by the two plaintiffs. Fifteen-year-old Lee Sang-hyeop was visiting the courtroom ahead of a summer volunteer trip to regions victimized during the Vietnam War.

“If the state did these things in the name of war, then you have to ask just what the state is,” he said.

By Hyun So-eun, staff reporter

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