hankyoreh

Kim Woon-seong and Kim Seo-gyeong

On a historical tour of central Vietnam two years ago, a former history teacher surnamed Han, 50, saw a memorial service for Vietnamese civilians massacred during the Vietnam War. After the service, there was supposed to be a feast and a time to share food, but the villagers were short on funds.

Han began to think that South Koreans who took part in the war were also responsible for holding these memorial services and that they ought to contribute to the costs as well.

So Han started saving money little by little, and when he had 500,000 won (US$415) he donated it to the Committee for the Establishment of a Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation.

There is a growing sense among South Koreans that their country - which fought alongside the US in the Vietnam War - ought to apologize for the civilian massacres that took place during that war.

Since the South Korean and Japanese governments reached a settlement at the end of last year about the comfort women, who were forced to provide sexual services for soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army, many South Koreans have been demanding that Japan make a genuine apology. But in order to make that demand, an increasing number of South Koreans believe, they must not overlook the civilian massacres that occurred during the Vietnam War.

The committee’s work to install castings of the “Vietnam Pieta” statue in South Korea and Vietnam is part of the campaign for South Korea to take historical responsibility for what happened during the Vietnam War. The statue is intended to be a way of apologizing for the massacre of civilians by ROK soldiers and to provide solace to the surviving victims.

Two people working on “Vietnam Pieta” are the married couple Kim Seo-gyeong, 51, and Kim Woon-seong, 52. These are the same artists who, in 2011, created the statue of a young woman symbolizing the comfort women, which is located across from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

The committee, which was launched in Sep. 2015 with 10 sponsors and 65 members - including Han Hong-gu, a professor at Sungkonghoe University; Im Ok-sang, a painter; and Lee-gil Bo-ra, a documentary director - is currently soliciting funds from the public with the goal of setting up copies of “Vietnam Pieta” in South Korea and Vietnam within the year.

In the 10 days since the Hankyoreh covered the story on Jan. 16, the committee has raised 7 million won (US$5,830).

“It occurs to me that, when it comes to historical issues, Korea is both victim and victimizer,” said Lee Dong-won, a producer at SBS who is one of the sponsors of the committee. “I hope that the ‘Vietnam Pieta’ statue will help Koreans and South Vietnamese tell the truth to each other.”

Donations can be wired to Kookmin Bank 324702-04-146079 (한-베 평화재단 건립추진위원회/Committee for the Establishment of a Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation). For more information, please contact amapvietnam@gmail.com.

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]