WORLD : 100,000 Vietnamese Linked to Old Regime Allowed to Come to U.S.

Vietnam has agreed to the resettlement in the United States of more than 100,000 former prisoners and their families who had been closely associated with the U.S.-backed government in Saigon, State Department officials said today.

The two countries expressed hope that the first group of 3,000 will leave Vietnam before the end of the year.

The U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, said there are between 19,000 and 27,000 Vietnamese known to have been sent to re-education camps after the Communist conquest of South Vietnam in 1975. All were identified with the former Saigon government, and officials said there may be others on whom the United States does not have records.

For each former prisoner, there are four to five family members who would be eligible to immigrate with them to the United States, the officials said.

A joint statement released by the State Department said the United States promised not to encourage released detainees to engage in activities hostile to Vietnam. Vietnam, in turn, pledged that no such detainees will be encouraged to carry out anti-U.S. activities once they are resettled in the United States.