Prime Minister Le Minh Hung has ordered ministries and local authorities to accelerate the search, recovery, and identification of the remains of fallen soldiers, calling the mission a sacred national duty and urging stronger domestic and international cooperation.
In the Official Dispatch No. 45/CD-TTg on July 8, 2026 signed by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, he ordered stronger efforts to search for, recover, and identify the remains of fallen soldiers.
The directive said the National Steering Committee for the Search, Recovery, and Identification of Fallen Soldiers' Remains has led ministries, agencies, local authorities, and relevant organizations in implementing the "500-Day Campaign to Accelerate the Search, Recovery, and Identification of Fallen Soldiers' Remains," achieving positive results.
To date, authorities have recovered 1,312 sets of remains nationwide, including 396 in Vietnam, 174 in Laos, and 742 in Cambodia. They have also located three collective graves of fallen soldiers in Tuyen Quang.
Mine and unexploded ordnance clearance has covered 7,025.15 hectares nationwide. In the Vi Xuyen core area of Tuyen Quang, 3,175.43 hectares have been cleared, equivalent to 77.9 percent of the planned work.
Authorities have collected samples from 35,925 unidentified soldiers' graves, gathered 93,464 biological samples from relatives of fallen soldiers, and synchronized 53,036 samples into the national database. At the same time, they have received and preserved 11,642 bone samples and are expediting DNA testing to identify the remains.
However, the prime minister said a significant workload remains, noting that implementation has been slow in some localities and agencies and that progress still falls well short of the goals set under the 500-Day Campaign.
He instructed ministries, agencies, and local governments to regard the search, recovery, and identification of fallen soldiers' remains as a sacred obligation and a particularly important political responsibility of the entire political system, calling for the highest level of determination to meet and exceed campaign targets.
The Prime Minister also called for expanded public information campaigns to highlight the significance of the 500-Day Campaign and mobilize the participation of the entire political system, the public, the business community, overseas Vietnamese, and international organizations and individuals. The effort is intended to uphold the nation's traditions of gratitude while gathering additional valuable information to support the search and recovery mission.
The Ministry of National Defense, the standing agency of the National Steering Committee, was instructed to intensify the search, recovery, and sampling of unidentified remains buried in martyrs' cemeteries. Northern localities, from Ha Tinh northward, are required to complete sample collection by Dec. 22, 2026, while southern localities, from Quang Tri southward, must finish by April 30, 2027. The ministry must also begin construction of a storage facility for preserving bone samples before July 27, 2026.
The Ministry of Public Security was tasked with completing the nationwide collection of DNA samples from relatives of fallen soldiers during 2026, while accelerating the development and operation of a gene bank for relatives of unidentified soldiers and upgrading DNA testing technology to modern, self-reliant standards.
The Ministry of Science and Technology was instructed to promote research and the application of scientific advances, technology, and digital transformation to improve the effectiveness of the search, recovery, and identification process.
Provincial- and municipal-level People's Committees were directed to strengthen public outreach, intensify recovery efforts in key areas, and complete sample collection in line with the National Steering Committee's directives.
The Prime Minister also called for stronger international cooperation in exchanging information, declassified records, artifacts, memorabilia, and war-related data, as well as sharing expertise, techniques, and DNA identification technology, with a focus on Laos, Cambodia, the United States, Australia, South Korea, and China.
