Who are the Lai Dai Han?

The “Lai Dai Han” are the tens of thousands of children of Vietnamese women raped by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War. Between 1964 and 1973, some 320,000 South Korean soldiers were deployed to Vietnam to fight alongside the United States. 

Some of the women that were raped or experienced sexual violence were as young as 12 or 13 at the time, and more than 800 victims are still alive. Today, as a result of the rape and sexual violence that took place, tens of thousands of young adults of mixed Vietnamese-Korean heritage live in the shadows of Vietnamese society.

Many of the Lai Dai Han and their families live in severe poverty, cannot read or write and do not have access to social services, such as healthcare and education. The Government of South Korea has never recognised the sexual violence that took place and has never apologised for the crimes of its soldiers.