Vietnam war survivors of South Korean massacres tell their stories in new documentary
- Untold by Korean filmmaker Lee-kil Bora – whose grandfather fought in the conflict – is built on powerful testimonies from Vietnamese people
- South Korean soldiers, who fought alongside the US Army, killed an estimated 9,000 Vietnamese civilians during the war
In February 2015, Bora was 25 years old and a high-school drop-out but already an award-winning filmmaker for her 2014 autobiographical documentary Glittering Hands , which explores her growing up as a hearing child of deaf parents.
That month, she arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on a mission – a visit to the mass graves at Ha My village, where she would also attend a memorial ceremony with the villagers.
About 320,000 South Korean soldiers fought alongside the US Army in Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. Korean troops committed at least 80 massacres of Vietnamese civilians during this period, with an estimated death toll as high as 9,000, according to a Korean researcher who interviewed survivors at over 50 massacre sites.
At Ha My, Bora joined the villagers and burned incense in front of the graves as an act of respect to the victims, but the experience confounded her. “How could they do this? I’m a Korean and my grandfather [fought in] the Vietnam war. If I were them, I would not welcome Koreans to my house or the ceremonies.”
