Historic court ruling recognizes Korean state culpability for massacre in Vietnam.한국 ‘베트남 민간인 학살’ 첫 배상책임…법원 “한국군이 총살”

all  >  National

Historic court ruling recognizes Korean state culpability for massacre in Vietnam

Posted on : Feb.8,2023 17:39 KST Modified on : Feb.8,2023 17:39 KST

 

A Seoul court ordered the state to pay damages amounting to US$24,000 to a woman who was injured during a 1968 civilian massacre by Korean troops in her village that killed multiple of her family members

 

Nguyen Thi Anh (left) and Nguyen Thi Thanh (right), victims of massacres of civilians carried out by Korean troops during the Vietnam War, take part in a people’s tribunal on war crimes by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War held at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Seoul’s Mapo District on April 22, 2018. (Park Jong-sik/The Hankyoreh)

 

A victim of the South Korean military’s massacre of civilians during the Vietnam War won the first trial of a national compensation suit filed against the Korean government. It took 55 years for a court to judge that South Korea should be held legally liable for compensation to the Vietnamese victims of the violence perpetrated by its troops.

On Tuesday, Park Jin-su, the presiding judge in the 68th civil division at the Seoul Central District Court, ruled in favor of plaintiff Nguyen Thi Thanh, 63, in her lawsuit filed against the Korean government.

 

The court ruled that South Korea must pay the plaintiff close to 30 million won (US$24,000) in compensation and pay for the damages incurred due to the delay of compensation.

 

The court set the consolation money at 40 million won by considering the extent of the damage and the delay of the compensation but admitted liability only to around 30 million, reflecting the plaintiff’s claim.

 

 

Nguyen Thi Thanh, the plaintiff in a case seeking state liability for Korean troops’ massacre of civilians during the Vietnam War, smiles on screen during a press conference by her legal representatives in the case after the ruling was announced on Feb. 7 outside the Seoul Central District Court. (Kim Myoung-jin/The Hankyoreh)

 

The court acknowledged most of the plaintiff’s claims as true based on testimonies from Vietnam War veterans and militia members as well as evidence submitted by Nguyen and her team.

 

“We acknowledge the fact that soldiers of the 2nd Marine Infantry Division (known as the Blue Dragon Division) shot the plaintiff’s family during Operation Giant Dragon and forcibly rounded up the plaintiff’s mother with other people before shooting them,” read the ruling from the bench.

 

“This was clearly an illegal act, which grants the plaintiff the right to claim compensation,” the court ruled. “The defendant’s claim that the statute of limitations has expired constitutes an abuse of rights.”

 

In February 1968, when Nguyen was 8 years old, she was seriously injured after being shot in her left side by soldiers from the Korean Blue Dragon Division near her home in Dien Ban in Quang Nam Province. While she managed to survive through surgery, she suffers from aftereffects to this day.

 

Nguyen lost five family members in the massacre, and her brother, who was 14 years old at the time, was also severely injured.

 

“Only the Korean government’s recognition of the civilian massacre will ease the victims’ suffering. I wish to honor the many victims, including myself,” Nguyen said when she filed her suit against the Korean government in April 2020.

In a phone call after the court’s verdict with her lawyers, Nguyen, who resides in Vietnam, said, “I am grateful to the court for believing everything that I said was true. I would like to thank my lawyers, my Korean friends, and the citizens who have stood by me so far. I feel like I’m on cloud nine.”

 

Lim Jae-sung, the lawyer who represented Nguyen in her suit, remarked, “Today’s ruling is significant in that a Korean court has confirmed for the first time that illegal activities such as these were carried out during the Vietnam War and that the Korean government should be held legally responsible for them.”

 

 

By Choi Min-young, staff reporter

 

 

한국 ‘베트남 민간인 학살’ 첫 배상책임…법원 “한국군이 총살”
등록 :2023-02-07 16:01
수정 :2023-02-08 02:41
최민영 기자 사진

 

박진수 판사 “피고 한국, 손해금 지급하라”
사건 발생 55년 만에 ‘원고 승소’ 판결

2018년 4월22일 서울 마포구 문화비축기지에서 열린 베트남전쟁 시기 한국군에 의한 민간인학살 진상규명을 위한 시민평화법정에서 퐁니·퐁넛학살 피해자 응우옌티안(앞줄 왼쪽)과 하미학살 생존자 응우옌티탄(앞줄 오른쪽)이 원고로 참석하고 있다. 박종식 기자 anaki@hani.co.kr

 

베트남전 당시 한국군에 의한 민간인 학살 피해자가 한국 정부를 상대로 낸 국가배상 소송 1심에서 승소했다. 사건이 발생한 지 55년 만에 처음으로 ‘가해국 한국’이 피해 베트남인에게 법적 책임을 져야 한다는 판단이 나온 것이다.
서울중앙지법 민사68단독 박진수 부장판사는 7일 베트남인 응우옌티탄(63)이 한국 정부를 상대로 낸 손해배상소송에서 원고 승소로 판결했다. 재판부는 “피고 대한민국은 원고에게 3천만100원과 이에 대한 지연손해금을 지급하라”고 판결했다. 재판부는 피해의 정도와 배상이 지연된 사정 등을 고려해 위자료를 4천만원으로 정했지만, 원고 청구금액이 3천만100원이라 그 한도에서만 배상책임을 인정했다.

 

베트남전 당시 한국군에 의한 민간인 학살 피해자에게 ‘가해국 한국’이 법적 책임을 져야한다는 법원의 판단이 7일 나왔다. 이날 오후 서울 서초구 서울중앙지방법원 앞에서 변호인들이 소송 당사자인 베트남인 응우옌티탄씨와 화상통화를 하며 기자회견을 진행하고 있다. 김명진 기자 littleprince@hani.co.kr

 

 

재판부는 베트남전 참전 군인, 당시 민병대원 등의 증언과 응우옌 쪽이 제출한 증거 등을 바탕으로 원고 쪽 주장을 대부분 사실로 인정했다. 재판부는 “대한민국 해병 제2여단 제1중대(청룡부대) 소속 군인들이 1호 작전을 수행하던 중에 원고 가족들에게 총격을 가한 사실, 원고의 모친을 다른 사람들과 함께 한 곳으로 강제로 모이게 한 다음 총으로 사살한 사실을 인정할 수 있다”며 “이런 행위는 명백한 불법행위에 해당하고 원고에게 배상 청구권이 인정된다. 피고 대한민국의 소멸시효 항변은 권리남용에 해당한다”고 밝혔다.

 

응우옌티탄은 8살이었던 1968년 2월 베트남 꽝남성 디엔반시 디엔안구 퐁니마을 집 주변에서 한국군 청룡부대 소속 군인들이 쏜 총에 왼쪽 옆구리를 맞아 중상을 입었고, 수술로 목숨을 건진 뒤 지금까지 후유증을 겪고 있다.

 

 당시 가족 5명이 목숨을 잃었고 14살 오빠는 크게 다쳤다. 응우옌티탄씨는 “민간인 학살에 대한 한국 정부의 인정만이 피해자의 고통을 덜어줄 수 있다. 저를 비롯한 많은 피해자의 명예가 회복되길 바란다”며 2020년 4월 한국 정부를 상대로 소송을 냈다.

베트남에 머무르고 있는 응우옌은 선고 직후 변호인단과의 전화통화에서 “제가 말한 것이 모두 진실이라고 인정해준 재판부에게 감사하다. 그리고 지금까지 저와 함께 해준 변호인단과 한국 친구들, 시민 여러분께 감사인사를 드리고 싶다. 정말 뛸 듯이 기쁘다”고 밝혔다. 소송을 맡은 임재성 변호사는 “오늘 판결로 한국의 사법부가 베트남전 당시 이 같은 불법행위가 있었고, 대한민국 정부가 법적 책임을 져야 한다는 점을 최초로 확인했다는 점에 큰 의미가 있다”고 말했다.

 

최민영 기자 mymy@hani.co.kr