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Ruling
in the Korean Agent Orange Lawsuit
The Korean Army participated
in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973 and many
soldiers were suffering from dioxin poisoning which occurred after
the war in relation to Agent Orange sprinkled on them during the
war. As the fact became known that American soldiers and veterans
who participated in the Vietnam War brought a suit for compensation
for damage related to Agent Orange from 1984 to 1988, Korean Vietnam
veterans claimed damages against the Korean government through
demonstration for compensation for the damage. As a result,
the Korean government enacted the Act on Assistance of Agent Orange
Patients on March 27, 1993 and began to grant a pension according
to the degree of damage, giving the veterans medical treatment,
the establishment of the Agent Orange-Connected
Disabled Veterans of Vietnam War of Korean progressed
a business of recovering the honor and welfare of the members,
and made a plan for bringing an action for claiming Agent Orange
related damages against the American government.
Knowing on May 1999 that
the Dow Chemical Company and Monsanto were conducting production
and business activities in Korea as multi-national enterprises,
Agent Orange-Connected Disabled
Veterans of Vietnam War of Korea filed an application
for provisional seizure of 132 kinds of patents owned by these
two companies with Seoul District Court and applied to the same
court for provisional execution of the patents upon receipt of
a notice of decision of provisional seizure on August 1999, but
the application was dismissed.
On September 30, 1999,
Agent Orange-Connected Disabled
Veterans of Vietnam War of Korea laid a suite
for compensation (US $500,000.-/person) for Agent Orange related
damage before Seoul District Court against the Dow Chemical Company
and Monsanto and other 6 companies, and organized the counsel
comprised of Baek Yong-yeob attorney and other 102 attorneys.
The number of the first participants of the suit was 17,141 (3,473
patients of chlorine acne and other 11 diseases and 13,652 patients
of light-sensitive dermatitis and other 22 diseases / 16 second-generation
patients) and Kim Hui-tae, chief judge of the
13th Civil Affairs Division, Seoul District Court, was appointed
as judge in charge of the case and began to hear the case.
- March
24, 2000. The case was heard at Seoul District
Court (Kim Hui-tae, chief judge of the 13th Civil Affairs Division)
- July
23, 2000.
The case was heard at Seoul District Court (Kim Hui-tae, chief
judge of the 13th Civil Affairs Division)
- May
28, 2001. The case was heard at Seoul District
Court (Kim Hui-tae, chief judge of the 13th Civil Affairs Division)
- July
19, 2001.
The case was heard at Seoul District Court (Kim Hui-tae, chief
judge of the 13th Civil Affairs Division)
- October
19, 2001. The case was heard at Seoul District
Court (Kim Hui-tae, chief judge of the 13th Civil Affairs Division)
- February
17, 2001. The proceedings terminted at Seoul
District Court.
- May
23, 2002.
After conclusion of nine (9) preparatory pleadings and six (6)
oral proceedings related to a suit of Agent Orange against the
U.S. government, the 13th Civil Affairs Division (Chief Judge
Kim Hui-tae) and dismissed the suit for reason that ground for
casual relation between Agent Orange and the diseases was insufficient
and that the extinctive prescription of the occurrence of Agent
Orange damage should apply, resulting in the case being decidd
against the plaintiffs.
- June
15, 2002.
Appealed to Seoul High Court (17,141 persons).
- December
20, 2002. In the preparation process for an
appeal trial related to Agent Orange suit against America, the
presiding chief Lee Won-o, the 13th Civil Affairs Division,
Seoul High Court, in a trial for lawsuit restructuring, decided
to try the case with the intention of granting an opportunity
to go on an appeal trial to only the persons who want to.
- May
23, 2003. The bill for lawsuit restructuring
for an appeal trial submitted to Supreme Court of Korea, according
to the appeal related to Agent Orange suit, to the effect that
the above decision was in violation of the principle of equality
was approved and the Supreme Court of Korea, as requested by
plaintiffs, accepted the appeal trial adjustment request and
granted an opportunity to go on an appeal trial to all the 17,141
persons who participated in the first instance.
- June
14, 2004 at 14:00. The third hearing was conducted
in the appeal trial at the 13th Civil Affairs Division (Chief
Judge Choi Byeong-deok), Seoul High Court.
- December
9, 2004. In relation to the suit for compensation
for Agent Orange damage against America, by arbitration of the
13th Civil Affairs Division (Chief Judge Choi Byeong-deok),
Seoul High Court, 4 representatives of this Association, attorney-at-law
Beak Young-heob, and 4 defense lawyers met to make a compromise
at Room 1906-1 (Civil Affairs Mediation Room) of the Seoul High
Court, but failed to reach an agreement. Then the court announced
that the trial would continue and that the court would decide
the date for trial.
- December
13, 2005. Oral proceedings for the appeal trial
was conducted at Room 309 of the Seoul High Court, the 13th
Civil Affairs Division (Chief Judge Choi Byeong-deok).
- December
27, 2005. Description of report of the appeal
trial at the 13th Civil Affairs Division of the Seoul High Court.
- January
26, 2006. The final judgment of the appeal trial.
Excluding periphery disease and burger's disease among all the
diseases from which the entire plaintiffs were suffering, 11 dieases:
- Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma,
- Porphyria cutanea
tarda,
- soft dissue sarcoma,
- Chloracne,
- Hodgkin's Lymphoma,
- Lung Cancer,
- Larynx Cancer,
- Bronchus Cancer,
- Multiple myeloma,
- Prostate Cancer,
and
- Type 2 Diabetes
were approved, 6,795 persons among
the plaintiffs won the lawsuit, who, the judge
decided, would be paid differently according to the degrees of
damages from minimum six thousand dollars (US $6,000) to the maximum
of forty-six thousand dollars (US $46,000).
In addition, the judge dismissed the request related to the remaining
diseases including that of the second-generation peripheral neuropathy
patients on the ground that the evidence is in short.
This judgment is considered to indicate that the manufacturers
should be responsible for product liability and failure to perform
the obligation of notifying such product to the user, instead
of a problem of casual relation of Agent Orange and extinctive
prescription.
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International
Conference of Victims of Agent Orange