The court docket additionally rejected the federal government’s argument that civilian killings have been unavoidable as a result of the South Korean troops have been coping with Viet Cong guerrillas who typically blended with villagers, in line with Thanh’s lawyer, Lim Jae-sung. The federal government’s legal professionals have been additionally unsuccessful in invoking a statute of limitations.
The ruling marks the primary time a South Korean court docket has discovered the federal government answerable for mass killings of Vietnamese civilians in the course of the conflict and will probably open the best way for comparable lawsuits. Then dominated by anti-communist navy leaders, South Korea despatched greater than 320,000 troops to Vietnam, the biggest international contingent preventing alongside U.S. troops.
South Korea’s Justice Ministry didn’t instantly reply to a question whether or not the federal government will enchantment.
The federal government has by no means formally acknowledged duty for civilian massacres linked to South Korean troopers in Vietnam, which some consultants say have been presumably answerable for 1000’s of deaths. These atrocities haven’t meaningfully impacted official relations with Vietnam, whose rising financial system advantages from South Korean funding.
In response to U.S. navy paperwork and survivors, greater than 70 individuals have been killed and round 20 others injured when South Korean marines allegedly fired at unarmed civilians as they swept via Phong Nhi and the close by village of Phong Nhut on Feb. 12, 1968. The motion got here after least one South Korean soldier bought struck and injured by close by enemy hearth.
Thanh, then 7 years previous, was handled for gunshot wounds in her abdomen whereas 5 of her relations died, together with her mom, sister and brother.
In response to U.S. navy investigation data, U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese militia supplied medical remedy to villagers who fled as South Korean troopers continued to shoot contained in the villages.
U.S. Marines later entered the villages and located piles of our bodies in numerous areas, many burned or buried in ash. One U.S. soldier took images which have been used as proof throughout Thanh’s trial.
Thanh filed the lawsuit in opposition to the South Korean authorities in 2020 and testified on the Seoul court docket final August. The trial additionally included the testimonies of different Vietnamese villagers and South Korean conflict veterans akin to Ryu Jin-seong, a member of the marine unit linked to the assaults in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhut. He supplied a first-hand account of how the South Korean troopers shot at unarmed civilians, a lot of them kids and ladies.
Thanh, who awaited the ruling in Vietnam, stated she was “overjoyed” by her court docket victory.
“I think that the souls (of those who died in Phong Nhi) were always with me and supported me,” she stated in a video message translated by her authorized group. “I am overjoyed because I think that the souls can now rest easy.”
The South Korean authorities had argued there was no conclusive proof that South Korean troops have been answerable for the killings, even suggesting that the aggressors might have been Viet Cong fighters disguised in South Korean uniforms who have been making an attempt psychological warfare.
The federal government additionally insisted that even when South Korean troopers have been concerned, their aggressive response was defensible as a result of they have been going through fixed threats from Viet Cong guerrillas who typically hid amongst villagers and actively recruited younger ladies.
Thanh’s legal professionals pushed again on the declare, saying there was no approach to justify the killings when South Korean veterans have persistently stated they didn’t face any significant resistance or aggression from the villagers, who have been rounded up and shot from shut vary.
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