Vietnam to honour DPRK war dead outside of Hanoi

Flags of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the DPRK along a higway in Vietnam in 2019 -- image via X

Various Sources

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is constructing a memorial and refurbishing a cemetery to honour soldiers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) who died supporting North Vietnam in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, offering a public recognition of Pyongyang's role in the liberation struggle.

During the war, the DPRK secretly sent an estimated 1,000 personnel to North Vietnam between 1966 and 1971, including fighter pilots, mechanics, engineers, and special operations specialists. In particular, 14 DPRK MiG-17 fighter pilots, including two officers, were sent to aid the North Vietnamese air force and were killed in combat against U.S. aircraft between September 1965 and early 1968.

These pilots were part of a larger group tasked with training and joining North Vietnamese pilots in air operations. While their contribution was significant to the communist cause, it was largely veiled in secrecy for decades.

The planned memorial will be built in Bac Ninh province, outside Hanoi, at an existing cemetery that commemorates the 14 fallen pilots. This cemetery, which originally contained headstones facing northeast toward Korea, will be refurbished to serve as a formal tribute. The memorial aims to formally acknowledge the sacrifices made by DPRK soldiers and highlight the historical solidarity between Vietnam and the DPRK during the war.

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The remains of the 14 pilots were repatriated to the DPRK in 2002, but the headstones remain, along with a memorial marker reading, “Here used to lie 14 North Korean comrades". The restoration effort follows discussions chaired by Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Truong Thang and attended by DPRK Ambassador Ri Sung Guk.