Former vice president of South Vietnam allowed to visit homeland
HANOI - Communist Vietnam is allowing Nguyen Cao Ky, a former premier and vice president of South Vietnam, to come home for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, an official said on Thursday.
Ky, who lives in Southern California, is scheduled to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, on Jan. 14 to visit relatives and friends for Tet, Vietnam's Lunar New Year, the Foreign Ministry official said.
He is also scheduled to visit Hanoi and Son Tay, his hometown, in Ha Tay province, some 25 miles northwest of Hanoi. The official did not elaborate on any other aspects of the visit.
Ky served as premier of U.S.-backed South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 and then as vice president under Nguyen Van Thieu from 1967 to 1971.
South Vietnam fell to Communist forces on April 30, 1975, and like many refugees, Ky fled to the United States where he went into business in Louisiana and Orange County, Calif. He also wrote a book and lectured at various universities.
In recent years, many overseas Vietnamese, or Viet kieu, have started returning home to visit family. Hanoi has made welcoming them a priority to attract more tourist dollars and help mend old wounds.
Tet, which falls on Jan. 22, is the biggest holiday in Vietnam when many Viet kieu return for family reunions. The National Committee for Overseas Vietnamese expects some 200,000 this year.
There are an estimated 2.7 million Viet kieu. About 1.3 million live in the United States, many of them in California.
The Associated Press - January 07, 2004.
SoCal Vietnamese angered over former leader's visit to homeland
LOS ANGELES - Vietnamese-Americans in Southern California said they were angry that Nguyen Cao Ky, a former South Vietnam premier and vice president, received permission Thursday from the country's communist government to return home.
Many fear that by visiting the country for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, the staunchly anti-communist 73-year-old Ky will lend legitimacy to what they view as a corrupt and oppressive regime.
Ky, who lives in Orange County, is scheduled to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 14 to visit relatives and friends for Tet, Vietnam's lunar new year, according to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry.
Bhat Lin, co-founder of the Garden Grove-based group Americans for Human Rights in Vietnam Action, called Ky's trip a betrayal.
``He was once an important leader. He represents the Vietnamese overseas, and we hate the communists,'' she said. ``If he goes back to Vietnam and works with communists, it means he betrays his old ideas and what he has been fighting for all his life.''
Trung Nguyen, a sales representative for Little Saigon Radio in Westminister, said he had joined several Internet chat groups Wednesday criticizing Ky's proposed trip.
``People are angry at it,'' he said. Nguyen said people he talked to were upset that Ky had to request a visa to visit his native country.
``They don't want those people begging for the entry visa,'' he said. ``When you want to go back to Vietnam, you shouldn't have to get a visa.''
Nguyen said many Vietnamese living in the United States believe going back home is viewed as a sign that you ``support the government and you agree with them, even if you don't.''
But in recent years, many of those who fled Vietnam have started returning home to visit family. Hanoi has made welcoming them a priority to attract more tourist dollars and help mend old wounds.
Officials said Ky is scheduled to visit Hanoi and Son Tay, his hometown in the Ha Tay province some 25 miles to the northwest.
Ky served as premier of U.S.-backed South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 and then as vice president under Nguyen Van Thieu from 1967 to 1971.
South Vietnam fell to Communist forces in 1975, and Ky fled to the United States along with many other refugees. He went into business in Louisiana and later moved to Orange County, home to the majority of the nation's 1.3 million Vietnamese immigrants. He has lectured at universities around the country.
The Associated Press - January 08, 2004.
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