The Seoul High Court issued a combined ruling on January 26, 2006 on two cases (2002Na32662, 2002Na32686) that Dow Chemical Company and Monsanto Company, the US manufacturers of the defoliant known as Agent Orange, pay 63 billion won (about US$62 million) in medical compensation to Korean veterans of Vietnam War and their families. This ruling marks the first time that a Korean court has awarded reparations to the Korean veterans by recognizing a casual relationship between the defoliant and some of the illnesses of the plaintiffs which Agent Orange has been known to cause.
Some 20,000 Korean veterans had filed two separate lawsuits in 1999 against the US companies, seeking more than 5 trillion won in damages, but the district court in charge of the cases ruled in favor of the US companies. The ruling by the Seoul High Court, however, overturns the lower court’s decision, and it appears likely that the US companies would appeal the High Court’s decision, sending the cases to the Supreme Court of Korea.
In issuing the combined ruling, the Seoul High Court appears to have relied on the facts that (i) the Agent Orange contained dioxin, one of the strongest toxic substances known, at the higher levels than standard, (ii) a report of the US National Academy of Science points to a causal relationship between the toxic defoliant and 11 diseases including Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, skin disease, bone marrow disease, and lung, larynx and prostate cancers, and (iii) the Korean troops were stationed in areas where the defoliant were sprayed, so it was likely that they would have been exposed to the toxic chemical.
However, the High Court did not recognize a causal relationship between Agent Orange and peripheral neuropathy, the most widespread disease suffered by the Korean veterans and 2nd generation of the veterans, and so rejected a related suit (2002 Na 34679) against the US companies filed by 15 children of the veterans. The children had claimed that they suffer from peripheral neuropathy because their father had been exposed to the chemical.
It is notable that the Seoul High Court ruling comes at a time when there has been no court in the world which has rendered a judgment in favor of Vietnam veterans on an Agent Orange claim in the various court cases during some 20 years since the first Agent Orange claims were filed and settled in the US back in 1984. The Korean veterans were not parties to the out-of-court settlement in 1984 which involved Australian, Canadian and New Zealand veteran plaintiffs, and the US manufacturers have so far refused to settle with the Korean veterans on the grounds, among other things, that the 1984 settlement was reached without defendants admitting any liability, and that any settlement with Korean veterans would invite more Agent Orange claims in Korea as the current cases are not a class action suit.