page_title: Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Abandoned children bodies in ditch. U.S Army and South Vietnamese Army were searching for other abandoned bodies.
context_page_description: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre was a massacre reported to have been conducted by the 2nd Marine Division of the South Korean Marine Corps on 12 February 1968 of unarmed citizens in the villages of Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất, Điện Bàn District of Quảng Nam Province in South Vietnam. The South Korean forces had been newly transferred from the area, in the wake of the Tet Offensive, with the village located in a densely populated region in and around Da Nang. Transferring Korean Marines to the populated Da Nang sector from a less populated sector was unpopular with ARVN and US Commanders and setting back pacification and relation-building efforts, due to the behaviour of Korean forces.
context_section_description: The massacres negatively impacted ongoing pacification efforts in the region and became widely known. Transferring Korean Marines to the populated Da Nang sector of  I Corps and I Field Force from an unpopulated sector set back considerable effort in winning support and deteriorated relations with locals. This massacre alongside the Hà My massacre and other ongoing massacres and atrocities undermined continual efforts at pacification. South Vietnamese and US commanders from the region had a negative appraisal of Koreans with General Rathvon M. Tompkins and General Robert E. Cushman Jr. being quite negative about the Koreans being transferred to the sector, as they were regarded as generally uncooperative and unwilling to engage in security while committing atrocities. These atrocities were reported by ARVN/US commanders and sent down to Saigon. Korean forces were transferred back to II Corps/II Field Force following this incident, and were relegated to guarding bases and minimising any offensive or combat actions.
  On 11 November 2000, General Chae conceded that Chief of Staff of the United States Army General William Westmoreland demanded the investigation several times. The South Korean commander still claimed that the two villages were not in the route of the South Korean marines who patrolled the area and repeatedly maintained blame on the VC who allegedly wore the South Korean marine uniforms.
  The event was prominently featured in the Korean media when it was discovered by Ku Su-Jeong looking at Hanoi's archives around the time of relationship normalisation, and Korean civic groups have called on apologies for this event from Korean leaders alongside survivors of the massacre. South Korean sculptors Kim Seo-kyung & Kim Eun-sung, two sculptors who designed the comfort women Pieta statues, have built a similar commemorative statue at the location of the massacre.
caption: Abandoned children bodies in ditch. U.S Army and South Vietnamese Army were searching for other abandoned bodies.
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