Vietnam requests RoK respect historical truth
In the spirit of a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam asks the Republic of Korea (RoK) to take proper perception, respect the historical truth and encourage substantive and effective acts in order to deal with war consequences, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said on March 9.
Such moves are expected to contribute to consolidating and strengthening the friendship and good cooperation between the two countries and their peoples, she continued.
Hang made the statement while answering the query on Vietnam’s response to the information about the RoK government’s appealing a court order regarding the massacre in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Nam in 1968, at the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi.
“We are very regretful that the RoK government appealed the court ruling. This has failed to reflect the objective fact of the matter,” she said.
Vietnam advocates shelving the past and looking toward the future, but that does not mean denying the historical truth, the deputy spokesperson stressed.
Earlier, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the government to provide some 30 million KRW (24,000 USD) in compensation to Nguyen Thi Thanh, who lost her relatives in the massacre on 74 people carried out by the second Marine Brigade of the RoK in Phong Nhat-Phong Nhi village, Dien An commune, Quang Nam province, in 1968.
The judgment marked the first time that a RoK court acknowledged the state's responsibility to compensate the victims of the 1968 slaughter.
