hankyoreh

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup speaks before the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee on Feb. 17. (Yonhap)

South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup made remarks last week disputing a Feb. 7 court ruling recognizing the state’s responsibility for a massacre committed by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War.

“Based on what the Ministry of National Defense has confirmed, there were absolutely no massacres by our troops,” he asserted.

Lee’s remarks came during an appearance before a plenary session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee on Friday. He had been asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk for his opinion on the court ruling acknowledging that South Korean troops in Vietnam were responsible for a civilian massacre.

“The situation at the time was highly complex,” Lee replied, adding that there had been “a great many situations where people were dressed as South Korean troops but actually were not.”

On Feb. 7, the Seoul Central District Court ruled for the plaintiff in a case filed by Vietnamese victim Nguyễn Thị Thanh against the Republic of Korea in 2020 to claim compensation. In February 1968, Nguyễn lost numerous family members to bullets fired by South Korean troops in the village of Phong Nhị in Vietnam’s Quảng Nam Province.

“It may be acknowledged that soldiers affiliated with the 1st Company of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps 2nd Division (Blue Dragons), in their course of their operations, assembled the plaintiff’s mother and others in one location by force and fatally shot them,” the court said, ordering the Republic of Korea to “pay the plaintiff 30,000,100 won along with delay damages.”

People Power Party lawmaker Han Ki-ho, a former general who currently chairs the National Assembly National Defense Committee, said in a meeting the same day that he found it “extremely dismaying to see the reputations of our soldiers in the Vietnam War besmirched and disparaged with this ruling.”

He went on to urge the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to immediately appeal.

Also that day, the MND reiterated its plans to “hold discussions with the relevant institutions before making a decision under Ministry of Justice direction on whether to appeal.” Lee Jong-sup’s remarks were taken as a sign that an appeal is indeed forthcoming.

Posting a message on Facebook in response, attorney Lim Jae-sung, who has represented Vietnamese victims in legal cases, asked, “Would illegal actions such as attacks on civilians be recorded in official war histories or war diaries?”

“Even if they are the Ministry of National Defense, they should be circumspect when it comes to the facts,” he urged.

Other matters addressed at the meeting that day included allegations that a shaman that goes by the name Cheongong visited the Army Chief of Staff’s official residence in Seoul’s Hannam neighborhood last March and was involved in the selection of the president’s official residence.

When asked by Justice Party lawmaker Bae Jin-gyo whether he had ordered an examination of the allegations, Lee said, “After confirming with a party who was working [at the official residence], we received a report that this was contrary to the facts.”

On the matter of spoken and written warnings to general- and field officer-level staff who bungled the response to North Korean drones, Lee said, “We have narrowed the scope of command responsibility compared with before.”

By Lee Jae-hoon, staff reporter; Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporter; Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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