South Korea’s Long Overdue Apology for War Crimes in Vietnam
On May 10, South Korea will inaugurate its new president, Yoon Seok-yul, who campaigned to a narrow victory based on his reputation for integrity as an anti-corruption crusader. With the opposition conservative party back in power, expectations are high for some significant changes in Seoul’s approach to foreign policy — but for the people of Vietnam, no one is holding their breath.
For almost 50 years, a large group of Vietnamese people known as the ‘Lai Dai Han’ have been waiting for historical justice, recognition, and a sign of contrition from the government of South Korea related to a grotesque series of war crimes committed by their troops during the Vietnam War from 1965–1973. But no such apology has been forthcoming, while applications for reparations have been uniformly rejected (“Women raped by Korean soldiers during Vietnam war still awaiting apology,” The Guardian, January 19, 2019).
Amid a complex balancing act of dealing with North Korea, China, and the United States, the issue of historical justice for the Lai Dai Han is unlikely to be at the top of Yoon’s agenda. But it is nevertheless extremely important for the tens of thousands of families who suffered unspeakable harm at the hands of Korean soldiers.
Many Americans are unaware that during the Vietnam war, South Korea was the second largest contributor of troops, sending as many as 320,000 soldiers into the conflict. Beyond the more infamous massacres conducted by Korean troops which resulted in the executions of some 8,000–9,000 innocent civilians, there was also widespread systemic rape and sexual violence perpetrated against Vietnamese women by South Korean soldiers (“The Forgotten History of South Korean Massacres in Vietnam,” The Diplomat, May 15, 2020). This resulted in tens of thousands of mixed-race children, known as the Lai Dai Han.
Many of the Lai Dai Han and their families live in the shadows of society, ostracized by other Vietnamese as collaborators from the war. Many live in severe poverty, cannot read or write, and do not have access to basic social services, such as healthcare and education.
Given the gravity of the war crimes committed, most agree that South Korea should be held accountable, recognize the Lai Dai Han, and work in a collaborative manner to achieve a victim-centered solution. But instead, the issue has been studiously ignored and silenced, most likely a result of significant foreign direct investment flows, reaching $72 billion last year (“Vietnam remains favorite investment destination for South Korea amid Covid-19,” Hanoi Times, August 5, 2021).
But it is really no longer possible for any South Korean public official to feign surprise or lack of awareness when questioned about war crimes in Vietnam. The ongoing human rights violations of the Lai Dai Han have been covered comprehensively by Western media over a period of many years.
Way back in April of the year 2000, Newsweek first brought the issue back to public attention with a series of three investigative articles, detailing testimony and evidence of the human rights violations committed against the Lai Dai Han (“South Korea’s Vietnam,” Newsweek, April 9, 2000). “Meeting a Korean was like meeting death,” one survivor told Newsweek. The article cites reports that women feared Koreans even more than the men did, because “they were often brutally raped before they were murdered” (“Apocalypse Then,” Newsweek, April 9, 2000).
One report indicates that South Korean soldiers allegedly raped Vietnamese girls as young as 12–13 years of age (“It’s time South Korea recognised allegations of sexual violence in Vietnam,” The Independent, February 28, 2021). The atrocities being committed by the South Korean troops even became so problematic, US authorities had to intervene and manage damage control, according to historical records published by CNN (“The ‘forgotten’ My Lai: South Korea’s Vietnam War massacres,” CNN, February 23, 2018).
According to harrowing testimony collected by the BBC, some Vietnamese were even kidnapped and enslaved, forced to live with their rapists for a period of years. “I didn’t want to carry on living. I felt completely dead inside,” said survivor Tran Thi Ngai. “It was coercion, rape, no love was there” (“1968 — the year that haunts hundreds of women,” BBC, March 27, 2020).
Uncovering this evidence was met with stiff resistance in South Korea. The final Newsweek installment tells the story of Koo Soo Jung, a South Korean graduate student who helped to uncover the war crimes (“Fallen Heroes,” Newsweek, April 9, 2000). She was repeatedly threatened and a group of veterans even stormed a hotel to disrupt one of her presentations, shouting “how dare they criticize us?”
The Washington Post similarly published on the evidence at the time, with an article titled, “Civilian Massacres in Vietnam War Tied to S. Koreans,” citing local officials confirming the slaughter of thousands by the South Korean military (“Civilian Massacres in Vietnam War Tied to S. Koreans,” The Washington Post, April 7, 2000). The New York Times has also reported on it, as well as the Associated Press, and National Public Radio, among many others (“Vietnam’s South Korean Ghosts,” The New York Times, July 10, 2017; “Villagers recall S. Korean atrocities in Viet War Troops massacred 1,600 civilians in all, survivors say,” Associated Press, April 9, 2000; “Battle of the dueling war crimes,” Public Radio International, August 16, 2013).
The New York Times again revisited the issue in a report last year on the landmark lawsuit filed by Vietnamese victims before the South Korean courts, recounting staggering evidence of the war crimes.
“No South Korean government officials have asked us survivors whether we wanted an apology,” said Nguyen Thi Thanh, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, in the the New York Times piece. “We do want an apology” (“Vietnam War Victims Wanted Justice. They Were Given ’30 Bags of Rice.’ The New York Times, August 21, 2021).
Instead of investigating the allegations and opening up the archives, the South Korean government has attempted to bury it. “I think the government would prefer that Koreans have no memory of the war,” said academic Choi Ho-rim in an interview with the Los Angeles Times (“Allegations of S. Korean atrocities arising 40 years after Vietnam War,” Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2015).
Efforts to bring pressure against Seoul on this issue reached its nadir in 2019, when a civil society organization called Justice for Lai Dai Han attracted the support of former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and installed a statue of remembrance in London.
Some of the survivors have filed suits seeking financial compensation, but most are simply seeking truth and recognition (“Vietnamese women raped in wartime seek justice for a lifetime of pain and prejudice,” The Independent, September 13, 2017).
But the South Korean government, still, refuses to budge on this issue (“S. Korean Defense Ministry rejects petition from Vietnam War civilian massacre survivors,” Hankyoreh, September 28, 2019). Ms. Nguyen’s petition, despite the support of dozens of South Korean civil society organizations, was flatly rejected by the Ministry of Defense, which claimed that “no information regarding civilian massacres by South Korean troops had been found in any of its documents.” They also dodge the question of a joint investigation by saying that Hanoi hasn’t requested one.
President Yoon Seok-yul is coming into office promising to do things differently than his predecessor, Moon Jae-in. But in terms of the historical whitewashing and the celebration of South Korean soldiers who served in Vietnam as “heroes,” Yoon’s conservative party has been deeply involved in creating these myths.
Can we expect a change of course by the new South Korean government toward responsibility, openness, and historical justice? It does look unlikely. But if the victims can raise their voices and receive international support to get the answers they deserve, maybe this long overdue apology can finally be delivered.
