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| Korea's Vietnam Troops Endure Dioxin Aftermath |
| [Photo essay] Nayan Sthankiya documents the outrage, illnesses of soldiers and their families |
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Nayan Sthankiya (internews)  |
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Published 2005-01-05 11:28 (KST) |
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 | |  Vietnam veterans stage a protest on the front steps of the Seoul municipal courthouse where an ongoing trial against Dow and Monsanto is taking place in 2003. Veterans are seeking proper compensation for exposure to dioxins during the war. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | | From 1962-1971, the United States sprayed 20 million gallons of herbicides over 600,000 acres of Vietnam -- about 15 percent of the country -- in order to eradicate farm crops and jungle cover used by the Viet Cong.
The most infamous of these was Agent Orange, which was the most widely used herbicide of the war. About 11 million gallons were spread all over the country, distributing between 1.77 and 40 ppm of dioxin, a devastating carcinogen, in its mix.
Civilians and soldiers alike were exposed to this deadly cocktail.
Though not widely known in the United States, South Korea sent about 320,000 soldiers to Vietnam over eight years from July 1964 until March 1973, the second highest troop dispatch next to the U.S. forces. Of these 4,687 never made it home.
 | | | | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | | Over the years, an estimated 1,600 gallons of this toxic chemical ended up being sprayed in the South Korean troops' operational areas.
These troops were sent to Vietnam for a number of reasons. Many South Koreans, thankful for U.S. aid during the Korean conflict, felt obligated to reciprocate when asked to participate. As a new emerging democracy, the fight against communism -- so close to its own door -- seemed like a prudent course of action.
 | | | A South Korean Vietnam veteran pictured with skin rashes caused by exposure to dioxin. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | |  | | | | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | |  |  | | | | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | The United States also paid large sums of money to the South Korean government for its aid in the war. These incentive payments were instrumental in propelling South Korea headlong into the highly industrialized nation it is today.
Every year in South Korea roughly 300 Vietnam veterans, those who made it back home relatively unscathed, die an often slow agonizing death, eaten away from the inside by various cancers or degenerative muscle diseases, mitigated by exposure to dioxins during the war.
Many are unable to work due to their debilitating diseases. They are burdened with spiraling health bills, medicinal cocktails that do little to cure the problem and fall into a sense of hopelessness and despair; often their last refuge is alcohol or suicide.
 | | | Mr. Kim, is unable to walk do to a degenerative muscle disease from exposure to dioxins in the Vietnam War. He only wishes to be able to walk again and to work and support his wife and family. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | |  | | | | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | |  | | | Mr. Kim holds some of the daily medications he must take to keep his condition in check. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | | In recent years the sons and daughters of these veterans have been showing signs of dioxin poisoning, manifesting itself in all manner of conditions from mental retardation, birth defects, cancers and skin lesions. Passed on genetically from father to child, another side effect of dioxin exposure is only now revealing itself.
Because of these disabilities many are unable to marry. They're frightened of passing on the legacy to the next generation and live alone in a culture that places paramount importance on family above all else. This exclusion and shame is more than some can bear, resulting in severe depression, alcoholism and often suicide.
Shortly after the end of the war, a settlement was reached between the Korean government, the chemical companies and the veterans exposed to dioxin. But at that time it was not apparent how far reaching and extensive the damage caused by dioxin exposure would be.
 | | | Mrs. Kim can't understand why there is no justice for her husband. She feels he paid to high a price for his country which now will not help him. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | | The compensation agreed to by the parties involved is woefully inadequate to aid those that only until very recently have shown symptoms indicative of dioxin poisoning and those second generation victims who where not even born at the time.
 | | | A South Korean woman, daughter to a veteran, shows the skin rashes that cover 80 percent of her body as a direct result from her father's exposure during his tour of duty in Vietnam. | | | ©2005 NSthankiya | | The remaining veterans, those who are affected and those who are not, soldier on. They are determined to be heard and demand fair treatment and proper compensation for the lives given in the service of their country. Every year the number fighting on decreases as the ravages of Agent Orange takes it toll.
Given enough time the issue will be moot, as those affected will all have died and finally been silenced. Yet the legacy of the nation that they helped build will remain and the people of that nation will have to ask themselves, "What did we do for those that gave their lives so we did not have to give ours?"
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Nayan Sthankiya is a Canadian photojournalist. Based in South Korea for the last four years, he covers various news and feature stories in Korea, China and Asia Pacific.
His background includes photography, sculpture, painting, design, video and travel. Trained in media arts at the Alberta College of Art and Design, with a minor in photography, his images have been published locally and internationally in magazines, dailies and the Internet.
"Photojournalism is a profession that should not be undertaken lightly, the duty of a photojournalist should be to tell the stories of those that are unable to, at all costs, and by telling those stories effect change in thought and policy," Sthankiya says. |
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©2005 OhmyNews
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