Viet Foreign Minister Visits U.S., Agrees to Greater Effort on MIAs

Vietnam’s foreign minister made an unprecedented visit to Washington on Wednesday and agreed to cooperate more closely in accounting for American servicemen still missing after the war in his country.

Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach said the two sides agreed to accelerate the pace of the investigations into the nearly 1,700 Americans still missing.

Thach met with reporters after several hours of discussions with the U.S. special envoy on the POW-MIA issue, retired Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., and again after conferring with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Thach is the first official of his rank to visit Washington since what was then North Vietnam became independent under Communist rule in 1954. The country was reunified in 1975.

Thach was upbeat after his discussions. “There are no divergences,” he said. “We will have much closer cooperation on this issue.” He also expressed eagerness for normal relations with the United States.

After the talks at the Army-Navy Club on the MIA problem, Vessey said the two sides “agreed to new levels of cooperation to resolve the fates of the missing in action in Southeast Asia.”

Vessey said the first priority will be given to the so-called “discrepancy” cases. These involve Americans who were reported seen alive but have nonetheless never been accounted for.

Thach offered assurances that there are no American servicemen in Vietnamese custody, but he allowed for the possibility that some might still be alive in a remote region without the knowledge of the government.