One “last lullaby” as a pieta is unveiled as apology to Vietnam War victims

Posted on : 2016-04-28 16:27 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Statue to be erected in Vietnam as a symbol of contrition for war-era massacres by South Korean soldiers
Former comfort women Lee Yong-su clasps her hands as she kneels after placing flowers in front of a scale of the pieta statue for victims of the Vietnam War in front of the Franciscan Education Center in Seoul
Former comfort women Lee Yong-su clasps her hands as she kneels after placing flowers in front of a scale of the pieta statue for victims of the Vietnam War in front of the Franciscan Education Center in Seoul

A scale model for a so-called “Vietnam pieta” was unveiled on Apr. 27 next to a comfort women statue in front of the Franciscan Education Center in Seoul.

With a Vietnamese name meaning “last lullaby,” the 1.5-meter-high statue shows a mother cradling a baby in her arms. Actual bronze pieta statues based on the model are erected in Jeju’s Gangjeong village and the Binh Hoa area of Binh Son, a district in Vietnam’s Quang Ngai Province. The works by sculpting couple Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Woon-kyung - also creators of the comfort women statue - are meant to express condolences for the lives lost in the Vietnam War.

“When you commit a wrong, you must apologize,” said 88-year-old comfort woman survivor Lee Yong-su as she placed a purple flower in the hand of the young girl statue and bowed her head before the pieta.

“We haven’t heard an apology yet from Japan, but in my heart I always feel a sense of sadness for the Vietnam,” Lee told a group of young people who were visiting the pieta on the afternoon of Apr. 27, three days ahead of the 41st anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end. Lee has been active as a member of the construction promotion committee for the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation, which held a launch ceremony in the same location that day.

Promotion committee chairperson Roh Hwa-wook spoke of the war‘s grim toll.

“Some 9,000 civilians were victims of civilian massacred by South Korean troops alone,” he said. “Around 5,000 South Korean troops lost their lives, while 10,000 were injured and 20,000 suffered the aftereffects of defoliant exposure.”

“To remember and reflect on the war and we want to take the Peace Foundation’s first steps toward peace.”

Among the activities planned by the foundation are a peace movement campaign, a Vietnam War research and archiving project, a “solidarity in suffering” effort for veterans, and cultural and artistic exchanges between South Korea and Vietnam.

A full page of coverage on the activities appeared on Apr. 26 in the prominent Vietnamese daily Tuoi Tre, with articles titled “Pieta: An Apology to Vietnam” and “Speaking Out for Vietnam War Victims.”

“I heard horrible stories from my mother, who lived through the war, but Vietnamese children don’t actually learn a lot from their textbooks about South Korean troops fighting in it,” said Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen, a 32-year-old from Vietnam who is currently studying in South Korea.

“I’m grateful to the South Korean citizens who are trying to remember historical facts, to apologize and work together in opening up a path to peace,” Nguyen said.

By Bang Jun-ho, staff reporter

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

 

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