Today, July 2, marks exactly 50 years since one of the most significant events in the modern history of Southeast Asia.
In 1976, North and South Vietnam officially united into one country under the name of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This ended more than two decades of deep political and ideological division that began after the Geneva Accords of 1954.
The historic act of July 2, 1976, came a little more than a year after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, marking the de facto end of the Vietnam War.
With the official unification, the city of Hanoi was declared the capital of the new sovereign republic, and the southern metropolis of Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City - in honor of the late leader of the communist movement.
The unification closes the bloody page of the military conflict and marks the beginning of a complex process of reconstruction and economic integration of the war-torn country.
Source: BTA