U.S. paid S.Korean victims of Vietnam War
UPI ^ | 12/2/2005
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The United States paid about $6.2 million to South Korean victims of the Vietnam War, declassified documents have shown.
According to the documents released by South Korea's Defense Ministry, compensation broke down into $2.8 million for the relatives of 4,968 soldiers killed in battle and $3.4 million for 8,004 wounded soldiers, The Korea Times reported Friday.
In return for sending South Korean troops to Vietnam, the United States offered financial and military assistance to Seoul, based on the Brown Memorandum signed by Seoul and Washington in March 1966.
Moreover, the United States promised to pay monthly allowances to South Korean soldiers at the level of those of other foreign soldiers participating in the war, such as those of Thailand and the Philippines.
South Korea dispatched soldiers to Vietnam to support the U.S. military in 1965 after a bill approved by the National Assembly.
The documents said that about 313,000 South Korean soldiers served in Vietnam between 1963 and 1973. Approximately 5,000 South Korean soldiers died in the war and about 11,000 others were wounded, the newspaper reported.