枯葉剤犠牲者の像でも建てたら？

枯れ葉剤被害で賠償命令　韓国最高裁、米製造会社に
2013.7.13 19:05 ［米国］

　１９６０～７０年代にベトナム戦争に派遣された韓国軍の元兵士約１万６千人が、米軍が使用した枯れ葉剤で健康被害を受けたとして米国の枯れ葉剤製造会社２社を相手に損害賠償を求めた訴訟で、韓国最高裁は１３日までに、原告３９人について健康被害との因果関係を認め計約４億６６００万ウォン（約４１００万円）の支払いを命じた。

　韓国メディアは、枯れ葉剤被害をめぐり、製造会社の賠償責任を認めた確定判決は世界で初めてと伝えている。

　米国では、元米国人兵士らが同様の訴訟で和解した例がある。米連邦最高裁は２００９年、「枯れ葉剤は人間を標的とした毒物として作られたものではない」として原告の元ベトナム人兵士らの請求を棄却したニューヨーク連邦高裁の判断を支持し、原告敗訴の判決を言い渡している。（共同）

S. Korea court orders US firms to pay up over Agent Orange
Published July 12, 2013AFP

South Korea sent some 300,000 troops to fight alongside the United States and southern Vietnamese forces during the war.

US forces widely sprayed Agent Orange, which contained the lethal chemical dioxin, in Vietnam during the conflict to deprive enemy guerrillas of forest cover and destroy food crops.

Veterans in South Korea estimate the number of Korean victims of the chemicals at about 150,000. Many insisted they were suffering from various ailments associated with exposure to the powerful herbicide.

Vietnam says millions of its people have died or suffered from direct or second-generation disabilities as a result of the use of Agent Orange.

Washington has never accepted responsibility for the Vietnamese government's claim.

S. Korean Vietnam War vets lose most claims against Agent Orange manufacturers
Posted on : Jul.13,2013

However, a causal relationship was recognized for sufferers of chloracne, and the original verdict ordering payment of over 6 million won (US$5,300) in damages each to each of the 39 plaintiffs was upheld. The plaintiffs suffering from this condition, for which the statute of limitations has not yet elapsed, were among the 5,227 who won claims in the earlier trial.
In its ruling, the court said it recognized the causality because chloracne is “a characteristic ailment that arises only when [a patient is] exposed to the dioxin in defoliant.”

　一応注目しておくべき動向ですね。