The conference was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Head of the committee, along with the participation of Senior Lieutenant General Le Chiem, Deputy Defense Minister, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee 515, and Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Le Tan Dung.

According to a report from the Ministry of National Defense, in 2019, the units and agencies at all levels embraced  and strictly implemented the Politburo’s instructions on search, collection, and verification of fallen soldiers' remains.

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At the event

The relevant units and agencies searched and repatriated 1,625 sets of remains of fallen soldiers, including 591 in Vietnam, 239 in Laos, and 795 in Cambodia, according to the Steering Committee 515.

Besides, 496 sets of remains have been verified by DNA testing systems, of which 31 martyrs have been identified.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam affirmed that carrying out search and repatriation for sets of remains of Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives in Laos and Cambodia during wartime is a key political task, demonstrating the Vietnamese tradition of “When drinking water, remember its source”.

He also requested relevant ministries, departments and localities to intensify search and repatriation of soldiers’ remains at home and abroad and to use the DNA database center to speed up the identification of remains of fallen soldiers with insufficient information, while expanding international cooperation in the field.

Translated by Lam Anh