Party, State leaders pay tribute to late Party General Secretary Le Hong Phong

Attending the ceremony were Party and State leaders including President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, Permanent Member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat Vo Van Thuong, Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man and Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen.

Late General Secretary Le Hong Phong was named Le Huy Duc on his birthday on September 6, 1902 at Dong Village (now known as Hung Thong Commune) in Hung Nguyen District of Nghe An Province.

In 1924, Le Huy Doan (Le Huy Duc) and like-minded people came to the Northeast of Thailand to carry out revolutionary activities, changing his name to Le Hong Phong. At the end of 1924, he met leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, who helped him to become an elite cadre and a resilient international communist soldier.

On June 22, 1939, Le Hong Phong was captured by the French colonialists and sentenced to 6 months in prison as well as 3 years of house arrest in his hometown.

In 1940, he was captured for the second time and sent to Kham Lon prison in Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City). He was sentenced to 5 years of prison and exiled to Con Dao Island. There, he was tortured brutally but was still able to keep all secrets of his communist comrades. He even mobilized and directed his fellow prisoners to fight against the enemy’s beating and harsh rules of the prison.

After months being tortured, his health deteriorated, leading to his death at the beginning of September 1942. Before dying, he asked his comrades there to report to the Party that until the last moment, he still put his belief in the victory of the revolution in Vietnam.

On the same day, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the leaders visited the national special relic site commemorating President Ho Chi Minh in his hometown of Kim Lien village, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province. Later the same day, they paid tribute to volunteer youths at a memorial site in the neighboring province of Ha Tinh.

Previously on September 5, the President visited and gave gifts to social policy beneficiaries in Nghe An province, and visited the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Hung Nguyen district.