Hanoi: Nearly 55 years after South Korean Marines fighting alongside the US in Vietnam destroyed Nguyen Thi Thanh's village, a judge in Seoul determined that she was the victim of a war crime and was entitled to compensation.

Judge Park Jin-soo of the Seoul Central District Court ruled on Tuesday that the treatment of her family by the Second Marine Brigade "clearly amounted to an illegal act." Ngyuen, 62, claimed he was entitled to $23,900 in compensation from the South Korean government.

The case was brought in 2020 by Nguyen, whose attorneys hope it will set a precedent for prosecuting other atrocities committed in Vietnam by South Korean troops. Seoul, the largest ally in the war, had dispatched 320,000 troops to support the US military effort in Vietnam.

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On the US side of the conflict, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, and the Philippines also took part.

On February 12, 1968, Nguyen was seven years old when South Korean marines entered the villages of Phong Nhi and Phong Nhut. More than 70 villagers died from gunfire, bayonet attacks, or other means. Nguyen was shot in the stomach, but she, her brother, and 18 other villagers all made it out alive. Five members of their family didn't.

The government's attorneys contended that there was insufficient proof of the massacre and that although the operation itself was unfortunate, it was not unlawful because Viet Cong guerrillas were present in the villages. Additionally, they attempted to use the statute of limitations.

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However, Ryu Jin-seong, a 76-year-old former member of the Second Marines, supported Nguyen's version of events when he testified at the trial. Declassified US military documents also did this. Gunshots were heard and smoke from the burning homes in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhut was seen by American Marines stationed in nearby Dien Ban. In Phong Ni, they assisted a few of the injured and took pictures of the dead, which later served as evidence in the trial.

In the village of My Lai, an American unit would massacre hundreds of Vietnamese civilians one month after the incidents in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhut.

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The two decades of conflict that started with the partition of 1955 resulted in the deaths of close to 3.5 million people in Vietnam, as well as in the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia. The US started a military intervention in South Vietnam in 1964 after years of financial support before pulling out in 1972. Three years later, Saigon's government gave up.