SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered compensation to a Vietnamese victim who lost family and suffered gunshot wounds when South Korean marines killed dozens of civilians during the Vietnam War.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that the South Korean government should pay about 30 million won (about 23,850 U.S. dollars) in compensation and interest for the delayed payment to Nguyen Thi Thanh, according to Yonhap news agency.
The survivor of the civilian massacre, in which South Korean marines killed around 70 people in the village of Phong Nhi in Vietnam's Quang Nam province in 1968, filed a damages suit against the South Korean government in 2020 as she lost her family and sustained gunshot wounds.
It was the first court ruling that acknowledged the South Korean government's liability of compensation for victims of the civilian massacre.
The government side claimed that it is not subject to the damages suit according to an agreement signed among Vietnam, South Korea and the United States, but the court said the agreement has no legal force to prevent a Vietnamese individual from filing a lawsuit against the South Korean government. ■