Son's comment came following a field trip to the Central Highlands province of Dac Nong on October 5-6, where he inspected eight of the 13 repatriates in Dak Bu So, Dak Tich and Nhan Co communes.

Son and other members of the mission directly talked with the target people. He said all of them have been leading good lives with high, stable incomes. Each target family earns up to hundreds of millions of VND a year, much higher than the national average. Mr Dieu Huyk in Dak Bu So commune, for example, was granted a soft loan worth 80 million VND to plant rubber and cashewnuts on eight ha of land.

His remark has rebuffed speculations that the Vietnamese Government discriminated and ill treated families of the returnees, who had fled to Cambodia. The speculations were also the reason why the UN refugee agency representative in Viet Nam visited the Central Highlands.

Son and his party were welcomed by Deputy Chairman of the Dac Nong People's Committee Tran Phuong./.