Japanese people support Vietnamese AO victims

The Japanese singer is leading a 23-member Japanese delegation to visit Vietnam from May 2-7, where they will call o­n AO childcare centres to explore the victims’ sufferings and call for worldwide support.

She handed over 100,000 Japanese yen to VAVA vice president Prof. Nguyen Trong Nhan to assist AO victims.

The delegation visited and presented wheelchairs to Hoa Binh (Peace) village in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan district, where more than 100 AO child victims are being brought up.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, the Japanese singer said she is interested in the fate of AO victims and totally supports their lawsuit against US chemical companies. She said she feels disappointed by the US Court of First Instance’s ruling to dismiss the lawsuit, but believes that the victims will win in their struggle for justice in the end.

In the early 1970s, Yokoi Kumiko joined demonstrations in Japan to protest against the US war in Vietnam. In 1972, she came to Hanoi and Quang Binh to perform anti-war songs to encourage soldiers.

In 1994, she returned to Vietnam for her first concert in Hanoi to raise funds for poor and disabled children suffering from Agent Orange. Since then she has organised eight concerts and tens of exchange performances at AO childcare centres across the country. Upon her return to Japan, she continued with performances to raise funds for these children. She said she plans to organise a concert for the same purpose in Hue next year.

She was o­ne of the foreign guests invited by the Vietnamese State to attend the grand meeting to mark the 30^th anniversary of Southern Liberation (April 30, 2005) and was awarded the Friendship Order.