JUSTICE FOR LAI DAI HAN
(The Rape and Torture of Vietnamese Women and Children by South Korean Soldiers)
Below are some important information that the Asian-American National Committee, Inc. wanted to highlight regarding the intentional, egregious, and horrific atrocities were committed by the South Korean soldiers against numerous innocent Vietnamese women, children, and others during the Vietnam War. To this day, 44 years after the end of the Vietnam War, the South Korean government has yet to acknowledge, recognize, nor apologize for these horrific war crimes. The South Korean government should immediately take those much-needed action now to promptly address those war crimes, and to ensure that it will never happen again.
"JUSTICE FOR LAI DAI HAN TO HOST UK PARLIAMENTARY EVENT ON ENDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT-Former UK foreign secretaries Jack Straw and Lord William Hague, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, and members of the Lai Dai Han community to address an event in the British Houses of Parliament-
London, United Kingdom, January 11, 2019 – Jack Straw, former UK foreign secretary and international ambassador for Justice for Lai Dai Han (JLDH), will chair an event on ending sexual violence in conflict in the British Houses of Parliament on 16th January.
The ‘Lai Dai Han’ are the thousands of dual heritage Korean-Vietnamese children born during the Vietnam War. JLDH represents them and their mothers, of which 800 are still alive today, who allege that they were sexually assaulted or raped by South Korean soldiers serving with US forces in this war. The event will bring together campaigners for the prevention of sexual violence and parliamentarians into a discussion on what steps need to be taken to end it for good. Members of the Lai Dai Han community will address parliamentarians on the social stigma faced by survivors of sexual violence and how to provide justice for victims.
Other speakers include: Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP, UK Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women and Equalities; Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations; Lord William Hague, former UK foreign secretary and co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative; and Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2018. The event is sponsored by Wayne David MP, the Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vietnam.
Jack Straw said: “The Vietnamese victims of sexual violence and their children, the Lai Dai Han deserve recognition and an opportunity for closure. The only way that this can be achieved is if our friends in the Republic of Korea acknowledge and investigate allegations of widespread rape and abuse by their soldiers during the Vietnam War. “We must demonstrate to the world the importance of following through on commitments to end sexual violence in conflict for good.” Between 1964 and 1973, some 320,000 South Korean soldiers were deployed to Vietnam to fight alongside the United States. South Korea has never recognized the allegations made against its troops and never investigated. Some of the women that allege they were raped were as young as 12 or 13 at the time.
ABOUT THE LAI DAI HAN. The “Lai Dai Han” are the tens of thousands of children of Vietnamese women that allege they were raped by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War. Between 1964 and 1973, some 320,000 South Korean soldiers were deployed to Vietnam to fight alongside the United States.
Justice for Lai Dai Han gives a voice to the victims and their children and campaigns for South Korea to recognize and investigate the allegations of widespread rape and sexual violence.
Justice for Lai Dai Han works with policy makers, writers and artists to ensure this injustice is finally recognized, alongside fundraising efforts on behalf of the Lai Dai Han and their families. Our work seeks to raise public awareness, to allow political and community leaders to connect with the victims of sexual violence to understand their suffering first hand, and to create public art as a permanent reminder of the plight of the Lai Dai Han."
