Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Gấu chairing the event in Hà Nội on April 24. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of National Defence convened a conference in Hà Nội on April 24 to roll out the peak phase of the 500-day campaign to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of fallen soldiers’ remains.

Chairing the event, Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Gấu, who is Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee for the Search, Repatriation and Identification of Martyrs’ Remains, commended the efforts and determination by relevant units. He underscored that the mission bears profound political, social and humanitarian significance, contributing directly to paying tribute to war martyrs and reinforcing public trust in the Party, the State and the army.

To meet campaign targets, he urged stronger efforts to search for and repatriate remains both at home and abroad, with priority given to key domestic localities such as Tuyên Quang, Quảng Trị, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Ngãi, Gia Lai, Đắk Lắk, Tây Ninh, Đồng Nai, and Hồ Chí Minh City.

Breakthrough measures are needed to accelerate progress and fulfil the set targets, he said.

The deputy minister also called for the completion in 2026 of unexploded ordnance clearance in core areas of Vị Xuyên in Tuyên Quang Province, along with Lào Cai and Lạng Sơn Provinces, to ensure absolute safety for recovery operations. He stressed the importance of expediting the collection and handover of samples from unidentified remains in martyrs’ cemeteries, alongside digitalising related data.

Military Region 4, covering Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị and Huế, will pilot the sampling and handover process before wider implementation across the armed forces, Gấu stated, adding that public communications efforts should be intensified to build a broad societal consensus.

Describing the current stage as the “peak of the peak”, he demanded the highest level of resolve and effectiveness, with leaders at all levels directly overseeing implementation under the “six-clear principles”: clear personnel, clear tasks, clear responsibilities, clear authority, clear timelines and clear outcomes.

Since the campaign’s launch on March 15, a total of 177 sets of remains have been recovered, including 17 in Việt Nam, 10 in Laos and 150 in Cambodia, while nearly 630 hectares of land have been cleared of unexploded ordnance. — VNS