Korean peace park in Vietnam shows unity and division

A peace park funded by South Korean newspaper readers opened in Vietnam yesterday.

Its existence symbolises Koreans' regret for wartime atrocities. Its low-key opening exemplifies divisions in Korea about the recent past.

The Weekly Hankyoreh 21 newspaper behind the Han-Viet Peace Park said its opening 'reflects the deep-rooted grief of the Korean people over what happened during the Vietnam War'. Korean soldiers formed the second largest contingent, after the Americans, fighting against the communist-backed North Koreans.

Yet no-one from Seoul's embassy attended the opening ceremony for the park in Tuy Hoa, in the southern coastal province of Phu Yen, and the embassy had no comment about the project. That may not be so surprising; President Kim Dae-jung has said that the two countries should focus on the future.

Readers of the newspaper donated the equivalent of more than US$100,000 (HK$780,000) to the project after reading a series of articles about atrocities committed against Vietnamese civilians by some of the 300,000-plus South Korean soldiers who, over the course of 12 years, served alongside US forces in Vietnam.

The park features a sottae - a wooden monument which in Korea symbolises sanctuary - and a Peace Museum. The latter was funded largely by 'comfort women' - Koreans forced into prostitution by Japanese troops who occupied the Korean peninsula from 1910 until 1945.

The park 'will be a way of delivering [the Korean people's] heartfelt apologies to the people of Vietnam [and] . . . bringing to an end the ugly and regrettable history of the two countries', Hankyoreh 21 said.