Remembering the civilian massacres of the Vietnam War

Vietnamese writer Quoc Quang Thuy, Sogang University professor Lim Ji-hyun, South Korean writer Kim Nak-young, and American anthropologist Gerald Waite, at Gallery Hub near the Wangsimmni Station in Seoul’s Seongdong District on Nov. 20.

Vietnamese, Korean, and American vets honor 20th anniversary of “We’re Sorry, Vietnam” movement

Vietnamese writer Quoc Quang Thuy, Sogang University professor Lim Ji-hyun, South Korean writer Kim Nak-young, and American anthropologist Gerald Waite, at Gallery Hub near the Wangsimmni Station in Seoul’s Seongdong District on Nov. 20.

Kim Nak-young, 71, a South Korean writer, Gerald Waite, 72, an American anthropologist, and Quoc Quang Thuy, 69, a Vietnamese writer, sat down together for a talk at 4 pm on Nov. 20 at Gallery Hub near the Wangsimni Station in Seoul’s Seongdong District.

The sight seemed a bit strange, with each of them representing different nationalities and careers. But they had one common thread binding them: the Vietnam War. All of them are veterans who fought in the Vietnam War between 1970 and 1975. Each cautiously revisited the brutal memories and wounds that they recalled from the time of their experience fighting in Vietnam.

Kim, who fought in the Battle of An Khe Pass in 1972 as part of South Korea’s Maengho (Fierce Tiger) Unit, was the first to speak.

“It was annihilation -- 100 members of our company went into the battle, and just 13 survived,” he recalled.

“At the time, I was thinking, ‘They [the enemy forces] have better ideas and could create a better society than us. Why do we have to shoot at them?’” he continued. “Every day I prayed that I would not meet any of the enemy, because then I would have to shoot at them.”

The next to speak was Waite, who is currently a research fellow at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies of the Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana.

“Between the end of the war and 2000, I visited Vietnam 16 times to remember the people who fought and pay my respects to them,” he said, suggesting regrets over his experience. A civil affairs officer in the Vietnam War for two years beginning in 1970, he recalled, “We got an order from Go Noi [Island] to drive out North Vietnamese forces, and the US military and South Korean Marines conducted several joint operations.”

“The resulting shelling and bombing reduced the area to a powder. It was like the surface of the moon, without any plant or animal life,” he said.

After the messages of penitence expressed by the first two, Quang shared a message of forgiveness.

“The Vietnam War impacted not only the destinies of the Vietnamese people but also the destiny of humankind,” he said.

“It seems like the veterans who fought in the war have a sense of guilt, perceiving themselves as having done something wrong. For the Vietnamese, it is a tragedy. But we do not harbor bitterness in our hearts for a long time,” he continued.

The reason the three were assembled there was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the “We’re Sorry, Vietnam” movement. Launched in 2000 as a movement to urge an investigation of and apology for massacres of civilians by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War, “We’re Sorry, Vietnam” marked its 20th anniversary this year. Following the talk on Nov. 20, the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation planned to hold an international academic conference on Nov. 21 at the Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies. It is South Korea’s first international academic conference focusing on the Vietnam War.

A rally is also scheduled to take place in front of the Seoul Financial Center building near Gwanghwamun Square at 2 pm on Nov. 23 to call for compensation to Vietnamese civilian massacre victims, the unsealing of documents from the questioning of veterans over civilian massacres at the Vietnamese villages of Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat, and the inclusion of mentions of the civilian massacre in all commercial textbooks. South Korean President Moon Jae-in previously expressed his regrets over the issue while visiting Vietnam as a guest of the state in March 2019, but the South Korean government has never acknowledged the massacres or officially apologized to the Vietnamese government for them.

By Kwon Ji-dam, staff reporter

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