Vietnam and Cambodia Accelerate Search for Fallen Soldiers' Remains

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Vietnam and Cambodia have reaffirmed their commitment to intensifying the search, collection, and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia during wartime, despite increasingly scarce information about burial sites, following the 25th meeting of the specialised committees of both governments held in Ho Chi Minh City from August 16 to 20.

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The Vietnamese delegation was led by Senior Lieutenant General Lê Quang Minh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam People's Army and Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese committee, while the Cambodian delegation was headed by General Pol Sareoun, Senior Adviser to the King of Cambodia and Chairman of the Cambodian committee, as the two sides reviewed cooperation in the ongoing search and repatriation mission.

Despite growing difficulties in locating burial sites, search and collection operations have continued effectively, with Vietnamese search teams recovering 850 sets of martyrs' remains in Cambodia during the 2025–26 dry season, according to reports from the meeting. In the coming 2026–27 dry season, the two sides will maintain the search and repatriation mission until no further information on the burial sites of Vietnamese martyrs remains available, with Vietnam set to continue deploying 11 search and collection teams across Cambodian provinces and cities.

The two sides also agreed to intensify public awareness campaigns and encourage people in both countries to provide information about fallen Vietnamese soldiers and their graves, while strengthening exchanges of delegations, jointly reviewing and collecting information, and conducting field surveys and assessments of cooperation between local specialised boards and search teams. The committees consented to direct their standing agencies to develop new measures to improve the efficiency of the search and collection effort and strengthen coordination in gathering information about Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia.

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The sides will further coordinate the repair and preservation of Vietnam–Cambodia Friendship Monuments in Cambodia, ensuring that the sites are properly managed and used in accordance with national regulations and local customs, while also pledging to facilitate visits by domestic and international delegations to the monuments, contributing to stronger ties between the governments, armed forces, and peoples of both nations. At the meeting, authorised by the Vietnamese Prime Minister, the head of the Vietnamese delegation handed over the Vietnamese Government's 2026 financial assistance to the Cambodian committee, underscoring the continued bilateral commitment to this humanitarian mission. The ongoing cooperation reflects the enduring partnership between Vietnam and Cambodia in honouring those who sacrificed their lives during the conflict, even as the passage of time makes the task of locating remains increasingly challenging.