[Vietnamization] Vietnam, Cambodia to step up search for Vietnamese soldiers’ remains in Cambodia [at least an annual press release]

Vietnam, Cambodia to step up search for Vietnamese soldiers’ remains in Cambodia

TUOI TRE NEWS | 26 July 2016

Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to increase cooperation in searching for the remains of Vietnamese soldiers having died in Cambodia.

The Specialized Committees of Vietnamese and Cambodian Governments attended a bilateral meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday to review the search for these remains.

Vietnamese volunteer soldiers were sent to Cambodia in 1979 on a lofty mission to help Cambodian people escape from the brutal genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge, for which the Cambodian government has expressed gratitude to Vietnam.

Le Chiem, Vietnam’s Deputy Defense Minister and head of the Vietnamese delegation at the meeting, expressed his appreciation for the two countries’ past efforts in locating and collecting remains.

Thanks to such efforts, Chiem said, 748 skeletons of Vietnamese soldiers had been retrieved from Cambodian soil over the dry season of 2015-2016 alone.

In preparation for the 2016-2017 search attempts, Chiem underscored the importance of getting information from citizens, soldiers, and landowners who were directly involved in the burial of the deceased soldiers.

The two parties also signed the meeting minutes agreeing to maintain cooperation in the search and retrieval of Vietnamese soldiers from Cambodian land.