Vietnam has had countless tragedies comparable to those that occurred on Jeju Island in 1948 and in Gwangju, a city in southwestern Korea, in 1980. Some of those tragedies occurred in the villages of Phong Nhi, Phong Nhat and Ha My in Quang Nam Province, where South Korean troops deployed to Vietnam brutally massacred civilians over the course of 10 days in February 1968. Nguyen Thi Thanh, 58, who was seven years old when Korean soldiers killed her family and shot her on the left side in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat, shared her story with the Hankyoreh 21.
“The Jeju Massacre and the Gwangju Democratization Movement are no different from Vietnam in the sense that they were tragic massacres of civilians. The fields and villages of Jeju were like our own villages, as were the people who were laid low there. They were all women, children, and old people,” Nguyen said.
Another woman named Nguyen Thi Thanh, 61, from Ha My village, testified to the massacre during a “citizens’ peace tribunal” last year with the aim of casting light on civilian massacres by the Korean army during the Vietnam War. On Mar. 31, the two Nguyens arrived in South Korea to speak for themselves and other survivors. While in Korea, the two women met many others who have suffered similar things on Jeju Island and in Gwangju. They spoke of the massacres they had witnessed, which they had suffered in their own bodies.
The two Nguyens headed for the Blue House, carrying a petition signed by 103 victims of the civilian massacres who reside in 17 villages in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces. The Hankyoreh 21 accompanied the two Nguyens on a five-day journey, from Mar. 31 to Apr. 4, which began in Jeju, passed through Gwangju and ended in Seoul. The conversations that the two Nguyens had with numerous women like them in Jeju and Gwangju were prepared as an article. Interpretation was provided by Ku Su-jeong, permanent board member for the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation, and by Nguyen Ha Phuong, a professor in the foreign language department of the Korea-Vietnam Friendship IT College.
Mar. 31: Wearing a badge of the red camellia flower
The two Nguyens entered the arrivals section of Jeju International Airport at 11:50 am. This was the third visit to South Korea by the Nguyen from Phong Nhi (Phong Nhi Nguyen), and the second by the Nguyen from Ha My (Ha My Nguyen). Phong Nhi Nguyen paid her first visit to South Korea as a war victim around the time of an exhibition of photography by Lee Jae-gap called “One War, Two Memories,” in 2015, on the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule. On that trip, she’d been accompanied by a victim named Nguyen Tan Lan, from An Binh in Tay Vinh (formerly Binh An), a village in Binh Dinh Province. On subsequent trips, Phong Nhị Nguyen was a plaintiff with Ha My Nguyen in the citizens’ tribunal held in Seoul in 2018 and a recipient of the 3rd Special Jeju April 3 Peace Prize, which was awarded by the Jeju April 3 Peace Foundation, this year.
The two Nguyens won their case at the citizens’ tribunal in which they appeared as plaintiffs last year. Since it was a private tribunal set up by civic groups, it has no legal binding. Even so, victims from the villages of Phong Nhị, Phong Nhat, and Ha My flew to South Korea to testify of what they’d suffered. The tribunal judges, including former Supreme Court Justice Kim Young-ran, described the massacres as a “grave violation of human rights” and “incidents that could be characterized as war crimes.”
“The government needs to take an official position based on an acknowledgment of the facts, a measure that is essential for restoring the reputations and dignity of the victims,” the tribunal said, accepting the majority of the bereaved families’ requests.
Phong Nhi Nguyen has been waiting ever since. “My case wasn’t tried in an actual courtroom. Even so, my triumph in the citizens’ tribunal got my hopes up,” she said. But there was no discussion of an investigation or legal responsibility. “I was disappointed, but I felt I should keep waiting,” she recalled.
For Phong Nhi Nguyen, the news that she’d been awarded the Special Jeju April 3 Peace Prize was “good news” that caught her by surprise. At the same time, she said, she’d probably have been much happier to receive news that the South Korean government was acting on the recommendations of the citizens’ tribunal.
“That’s why I put the name ‘Nguyen Thi Thanh’ on the petition,” said Ha My Nguyen. “Don’t you think that all of us victims need to step up to deal with this issue?” Phong Nhi Nguyen said as she attempted to win over the villagers. The people of Ha My village had a request for Ha My Nguyen: “Since we’re not able to go ourselves, please deliver the petition on our behalf. We want you to represent us, since you testified to the tragedy our village suffered at the citizens’ tribunal in Korea.”
The two Nguyens departed from Da Nang International Airport in Vietnam around 1 am on Mar. 31. After touching down at Incheon, they transferred to Gimpo, where they caught a flight to Jeju Island. The faces of the two Nguyens had been lined with tension and fatigue from their 12-hour flight, but they soon lit up. Five people had come to the arrivals section to meet them, members of Jeju Peace Butterfly, a network of teenagers, university students, and young people working toward the resolution of the comfort women issue. The five members were carrying a placard with a message, written in Vietnamese, that said, “We’re going to stand with you.” These students had met the two Nguyens this past January. Phong Nhi Nguyen caressed the faces of the students, calling them “kids.” For the two Nguyens, it was a joyous reunion with their Korean friends, whom they’d said goodbye to three months earlier, hoping to meet again.
Around 6 pm, a welcome dinner was held prior to the awards ceremony for the Jeju April 3 Peace Prize, scheduled for the next day. During the dinner, Kang Woo-il, a bishop and the chair of the Jeju April 3 Peace Prize Committee, explained why the prize was being given to Phong Nhi Nguyen. “Several countries in Asia have criticized Japan for the lukewarm way in which it has reckoned with the issues of the past. That’s because the leaders of the Japanese government don’t have a factual recollection of the violent and heinous deeds that Japan committed throughout Asia and because they haven’t made a sincere apology for those deeds. If we don’t acknowledge or apologize for the civilian massacres perpetrated in the past by Korean troops in Vietnam, we’ll be unable to avoid the same criticism,” Kang said.
The recipient of this year’s peace prize was the novelist Hyun Ki-young, 78. Hyun released his novel “Uncle Suni,” which deals with the massacre of Bukchon Village, on Jeju Island, following a 30-year period when the residents of Jeju were compelled to remain silent about the massacre. After hearing about Hyun’s life, Phong Nhi Nguyen’s first instinct was to ask about his health. In 1979, Hyun was apprehended by the Defense Security Command and tortured because he’d written a novel about the Jeju Massacre. The woman had long been tormented by the memory of trying to keep her guts from spilling out of her belly as she roamed around trying to find her mother. During the dinner, the two Nguyens wore ceramic badges on their chest marking the 70th anniversary of the Jeju Massacare. The badges were in the shape of camellia flowers, just as the souls lost in the Jeju Massacare faded silently into the cold ground, like the red petals of the camellia.
Apr. 1: The ao dai dress worn at the awards ceremony
On Apr. 1, the next day, the two Nguyens visited the office of a notary public with Lim Jae-seong, an attorney with Haemaru Law Firm. Phong Nhi Nguyen was there to notarize documents that would be needed to sue the South Korean government for compensation later this year. “It’s meaningful to hold the government accountable when it’s denying and avoiding this issue. Even if the compensation lawsuit is successful, its remedy will be limited to the individual rights of the person filing the lawsuit. There are 9,000 victims of the civilian massacres by Korean troops. Prevailing in the lawsuit will also be highly symbolic by making the state acknowledge its responsibility,” Lim said.
It isn’t easy to find concrete evidence or witnesses, which is typical of government crimes, in which state organs long persist in denying the truth and make a concerted effort to destroy evidence. In most cases, the testimony of these elderly victims is the only testimony to be had. The massacres at Phong Nhị and Phong Nhat are unusual in the respect that there’s relatively more evidence available for them, including photographs taken by J. Vaughn, a corporal with the US Marines.
“At Ha My village, we don’t have the kind of concrete evidence that they do at Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat villages,” said Ha My Nguyen, who isn’t able to file a lawsuit for now. But she went ahead and notarized her documents, to prepare for the compensation lawsuit that she hopes to file eventually against the South Korean government. Ha My Nguyen said this makes her feel “sad.” Ten more people recently identified themselves as victims at Ha My, bringing the total to 145. Even so, Ha My Nguyen said she wasn’t able to do anything other than take care of the notarization.
That afternoon, the two Nguyens changed into ao dai, the traditional dress of Vietnam. They’d brought the outfits so they could wear formal attire to the awards ceremony for the Jeju April 3 Peace Prize. Ha My Nguyen made the following remarks upon receiving the prize: “The most meaningful part of this prize is the restoration of my honor. The way I see it, I’m receiving this prize alongside the many survivors in Vietnam who are suffering just as I am. In the future, I won’t stop striving to find the truth. I hope that more Korean friends will join us.”
The next speaker was Phong Nhi Nguyen. “The Vietnamese government is trying to shut the door on the past and move forward into the future. Although it may be possible to shut up survivors such as us and keep us from telling our stories, it’s impossible to shut down the pain and injuries inflicted on the victims during the massacres. We brought the victims’ petition with us on this trip. We’ll be delivering that petition to the Blue House to convey our request for an investigation and an official apology. Our hope is for future generations in South Korea and Vietnam to transcend the past and to live together in a better society.”
The Jeju Massacre as viewed by victims of civilian slaughter during Vietnam War
Victims to petition Blue House for apology for killings by South Korean troops
Apr. 2: “You are me and I am you”