When Korea signed the treaty of the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Agreement after the Korean War, the military neighborhoods were situated around the U.S. military camps. Entertainment businesses flourished around the military neighborhoods. Some Korean women entered into the military neighborhoods for making money. Because of this reason, the Korean government supported the entertainment businesses to earn foreign currency, such as distributing condoms for free at the public health centers. However, when the military neighborhoods vanished, the women who lived in the military neighborhoods were discriminated against and suffered from poverty. Also, the half-blooded children who were born from Korean mothers and American military fathers were highly discriminated against. However, there are also some Koreans who gave similar pain to other people.
  The Korean military massacred numerous civilians during the Vietnam War. Also, they made their Vietnamese wives pregnant and irresponsibly returned to Korea after the end of the war. Therefore, ‘Lai Daihan’ was made by them. When we look at the meaning of ‘Lai Daihan’, the Chinese character ‘來 ’(Lai) means “come” in Vietnamese, and the character is used when Vietnamese despitefully refer to a half-blood. The Chinese character ‘大韓’(Daihan) means “Korea and Korean military who participated in the Vietnam War” in Vietnamese. In other words, ‘Lai Daihan’ means ‘came from Korea’ and ‘a half-blood with a Korean’. After the war ended, Lai Daihans were discriminated against because they were children of the enemy. Also, they lived poorly with single mothers and couldn't learn well. There were stories that the Vietnamese government institutionally interrupted Lai Daihan’s entrance into schools of higher learning in Vietnam. Unlearned Lai Daihans survived by taking up careers in hard labor. It is hard for Lai Daihans to get a job because there is discrimination in Vietnam and the Korean government also does not allow them to obtain Vietnamese citizenship.
  To address this issue, some parties are supporting educational support and conducting campaigns to find their fathers. However, the parties are mostly private organizations. The social organization ‘A-Map’ is supporting continuous effort to settle this issue by making Koreans aware of the problems. The Korean government constructed forty schools and five hospitals, but the supporting methods were not formulated. Academies of staff training were constructed by Korean Christian groups and the Vietnamese government. Also, the volunteers taught Korean for free. However, it turned into an activity for Vietnamese citizens not Lai Daihans.
  On the contrary, the Korean government made a preparation for the 50th memorial event of the Vietnamese troop dispatch. However, it was denounced by the Vietnamese government and they requested the Korean government to stop. Around the world, there are just 9 Vietnamese women alive who were supported by ‘Hope Butterfly’, which is a fund of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan for helping women harmed in war around the world. Considering the number of Lai Daihans is at least 5,000 to a maximum 300,000, it is very small. The French government made efforts of immigration of half-blooded children who were born during French colonization after the outbreak of the Vietnam War. Also, the French government continuously made an effort for immigration through negotiation with the Vietnamese government after end of the war. Like other countries, the Korean government should make formed measures and heal their pains.

By Oh Ah-ra | ar34@cbnu.ac.kr
By Seo Su-bin | sb35@cbnu.ac.k