Translating Memory, Contesting Empire: Kim Tae Soo's Sub-Imperial Poetry on South Korea's Violence in the Vietnam War.

This article centers on the poetry and testimony of Kim Tae Soo, a South Korean conscript who served in the Vietnam War, and the broader historical and political context of South Korea’s military involvement in Vietnam under Park Chung Hee’s regime. It explores how Kim’s poetry, particularly from his collection *Vietnam, The Country I Left Behind*, serves as a form of “subimperial” testimony—bearing witness to South Korea’s complicity in U.S.-led imperial violence, the brutal treatment of Vietnamese civilians, and the lasting physical and psychological scars on soldiers and civilians alike. The article also highlights ongoing struggles for recognition and justice, including legal cases brought by Vietnamese survivors against the South Korean government for massacres such as those at Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat, and the role of translation and transnational solidarity in preserving and amplifying these contested memories. Through Kim’s poems and survivor testimonies, the piece reveals the complex legacies of empire, war, and memory that continue to shape Korea-Vietnam relations and calls attention to the unfinished work of reckoning with this history. [Extracted from the article]