Pet’ŭnam chŏnjaeng: ich’yŏjin chŏnjaeng, pantchok ŭi kiŏk by Pak T’aegyun

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pet’ŭnam chŏnjaeng: ich’yŏjin chŏnjaeng, pantchok ŭi kiŏk by Pak T’aegyun Kang Seun Mo Pet’ŭnam chŏnjaeng: ich’yŏjin chŏnjaeng, pantchok ŭi kiŏk (The Vietnam War: The forgotten war, untold stories) by Pak T’aegyun [Park Tae-gyun]. Seoul: Han’gyŏre ch’ulp’an, 2015. 352pp. At first glance, the Vietnam War seems to be a rather unconventional topic for Korean Studies. Indeed, not a lot of Koreanists have published a book on the Vietnam War. In this regard, this book is very fresh and valuable. More importantly, however, this book raises awareness of the fact that critical aspects of history have been forgotten. Pak T’aegyun argues that while the Vietnam War is conventionally known in Korea as having been the “divine gift,” this is only part of the story. There are also controversial aspects that are not often talked about. So what are these “unheard” stories? First, the US and Korea got themselves involved in a wrong war. Park argues there were a number of miscalculations made by the US government, which was leading the war effort. For instance, the US government believed that without intervention, Vietnam might be lost to the Chinese communists, which might then allow communism to further spread to other regions. The reality was that there had been on-going conflicts between Vietnam and China, and Vietnam, if left alone, could well have been the Yugoslavia of Asia. Instead, by striking Vietnam, the US ended up strengthening Sino-Vietnamese ties. Perhaps the greatest blunder was overlooking the fact that the conflict in Vietnam was more between the South Vietnamese government and South Vietnamese communists; it was less about North Vietnam and South Vietnam. However, the US government decided to support a South Vietnamese government that was rampant with problems, and this drove the South Vietnamese general public further away from the US and closer to the communists. This had grave [End Page 276] consequences. The continued support of South Vietnam only prolonged the war and countless American and Vietnamese lives were lost as a result. It was against this backdrop that South Korea got involved in the Vietnam War. South Korea first sent troops to Vietnam, primarily in hopes of preventing the US troops from leaving Korea, and thus assure that American security in Korea remain unchanged. As it would later turn out, this decision to dispatch troops to Vietnam produced very complicated results. The controversial beginning was the portent of a controversial end. In the case of the US, the Vietnam War brought forth the collapse of the US-led international order, as the US economy plummeted. It was also a huge blow to America’s prestige, as the US had to pull out of Vietnam without any apparent success. In so far that it produced anything positive, one could point to the widespread demonstrations against the war, which simultaneously challenged the existing norms and injustices, such as racism and sexual inequality. In the case of South Korea, the Vietnam War enabled the country to achieve economic advancement, as veterans sent remittances and heavy industries, including construction, were blessed with previously unforeseen opportunities. At the same time, however, there were mass killings of Vietnamese civilians by Korean combatants. Furthermore, the South Korean government neglected its own troops. For instance, when the South Korean military evacuated from Vietnam, the South Korean government first announced that there was nobody left behind. The US government records, however, reveal that this was not the case. Worse, some South Korean combatants captured by the communists were later found in North Korea. This only proved that the South Korean military did not take proper care of its own troops. In sum, Park argues that what Koreans usually know about the Vietnam War is only part of what really happened. There were major miscalculations made by both the US and Korea, which incurred unnecessary human casualties. In Korea, these unpleasant memories of the Vietnam War are often missing in the mainstream discourse. Perhaps the greatest value of the book is that in unraveling these truths, Park raises some very important questions. For instance, Koreans often criticize Japan...