Vietnamese president resigns amid anti-corruption campaign
RICHARD A. BROOKS/POOL PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong addresses the media during a joint press conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their meeting at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2023. Thuong resigned after a little over a year in the position, state media VN Express reported.
HANOI, Vietnam >> Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong resigned after a little over a year in the job, the Communist Party said Wednesday, making him the latest senior official to leave office amid an intense anti-corruption campaign.
The party’s Central Committee approved his resignation, writing in a statement that “violations by Vo Van Thuong have left a bad mark on the reputation of the Communist party.”
Thuong, 54, became president in March 2023, two months after his predecessor Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned to take “political responsibility” for corruption scandals during the pandemic. He was the youngest president since modern-day Vietnam emerged from war in the mid-1970s.
The position of president in Vietnam is largely ceremonial and ranks third in the country’s political hierarchy.
