In 1989 Lt. Gen. Le Kha Phieu, the former deputy commander in chief of Vietnamese forces in Cambodia, told a press conference that 55,000 Vietnamese troops had died in the Cambodian conflict since 1977. (http://www.enigmaterial.com/icsnap/asia-2b.html) More than half that total -- 30,000 soldiers -- died in border battles before the December 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.

No one know exactly how many Vietnamese soldiers had died in Cambodia or how many Cambodian soldiers and Khmer Rouge (both were Khmer fighters) were killed during and after the Vietnamese invasion.

Picture on the left: (http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/riley/787/Vietnam/phieu/Phieu.html)

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the current Cambodian government shows much gratitude towards Vietnam, but many Cambodians have argued that the Vietnamese did not die for Cambodia, they died for Vietnam. Now, Vietnam has reaped much of its benefits for millions of Vietnamese are now settling inside Cambodia.

With regard to the Vietnamese MIA, many Cambodians claim that there are many living Vietnamese soldiers residing inside Cambodia dressed as civilian. We don’t know whether these people are considered dead or missing in action by Vietnam, but there is no independent national or international organization to help verify what Vietnam has been doing. Although some countries gave Vietnam the benefit of the doubt, the withdrawal of Vietnamese armed forced from Cambodia was done without much verification.

Some 32 years subsequent to the invasion, Vietnam is still seeking for its dead soldiers inside Cambodia.

Most Cambodians, on other hand, do not know where the bodies of their loved ones are. All they know that they were killed or disappeared.

Here is the report clipped from VOVNews:

Over 5,100 sets of volunteers’ remains repatriated from Cambodia

Over 5,100 sets of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts have been repatriated from Cambodia during the 2001-2011 period.

The figure was released at a meeting in Phnom Penh on March 12 to review 10 years of the search for remains of fallen Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who laid down their lives during the war in Cambodia.

During the 10-year period, search teams have completed a large volume of work thanks to their active cooperation and coordination with Cambodian localities under an agreement signed between the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments on August 28, 2000.

Vietnam’s Military Zone 9 said it is in charge of searching for the remains of some 8,500 fallen Vietnamese soldiers in 10 Cambodian provinces. In 2011, the zone will continue the work, especially in such provinces as Kandal, Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Cham.

Between 2012 and 2015, the zone’s search teams will search and gather remains of Vietnamese martyrs in all remaining areas.

VOVNews/VNA