In front of a 31-meter tower at South Korea's national cemetery, they burned incense and paid a silent tribute together to honor the hundreds of thousands of war veterans buried there, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The veterans share a bitter past as well as the same agony in the present – what they claim are the lingering after-effects of the deadly defoliant sprayed by the US during the war.
They are fighting together to receive compensations from the US makers of Agent Orange.
The victims of the fatal chemical carry a continuing legacy of the Vietnam War, which ended three decades ago.
More than 4.7 million Vietnamese are said to continue to suffer from a range of illnesses, including birth defects, cardiovascular disease, cancer and nervous disorders because of the chemical defoliant dropped during the war in which South Korea fought alongside the US. South Korean activists estimate the number of Korean victims of the chemicals at around 150,000.
South Korea dispatched about 320,000 soldiers to Vietnam to become the largest foreign contingent of U.S. allies fighting in the war, with 5,000 killed in action and nearly 11,000 others wounded, according to official data.
"The past is bygone. South Korea and Vietnam are friends and partners for now and the future," Do Xuan Dien, a Vietnamese veteran, told Yonhap News Agency.
The 75-year-old former army major general arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for a week-long stay in his capacity as vice president of the Vietnam's Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA).
He is heading a nine-member delegation from the VAVA, which paid homage to the fallen soldiers at the National Cemetery in Seoul, along with around 120 members of the South Korean group of Agent Orange victims.
"We are preparing for a lawsuit against the makers of Agent Orange. So we want to learn from the South Korean group's experience," the grey-haired Vietnamese man said.
Last year, a South Korean court ordered Dow Chemical Co. and Monsanto Co., two makers of Agent Orange, to pay US$62 million in compensation to thousands of South Korean Vietnam war veterans and their families.
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 09 April, 2007, 21:06:13 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News
Veterans from Viet Nam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) who once stood on opposing sides of the American war more than thirty years ago, are now cooperating in an effort to aid the victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin sprayed in Viet Nam by the US army.
A delegation from the Viet Nam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), led by Vice Chairman Do Xuan Dien, visited the RoK on April 9, to gain insights into its experiences in conducting lawsuits against the US chemical companies.
“The war has gone. We are willing to put the past aside to befriend people from all countries, even if they used to stand opposite to us in the battlefield. We are considering accelerating the process of conducting lawsuits against the AO/dioxin producers, and we need to learn from the RoK experiences in this regard,” Dien said in an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency correspondent in Seoul.
Seo Cheoul Jae, Vice President of the AO-Connected Disabled Veterans of the RoK, said his association has opened representative offices in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City to share the RoK context with the Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims.
The RoK sent around 320,000 troops to Viet Nam during the American war and it is estimated that nearly half of them became victims of the toxicants sprayed by their own side. RoK veterans exposed to Agent Orange have been stricken with amongst others the diseases of respiratory and prostate cancer, spina bifida and leukaemia.
In 2006, the RoK Supreme Court ordered 69 million USD in compensation be paid out to 6,800 RoK victims and their families by US Agent Orange/dioxin manufacturers.
VNA
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