"Vietnam's Top Leader To Lam Confirmed for Five-Year Extension as General Secretary"

Elected at Communist Party Congress
Public Security Expert Leads Government Reform
New Leadership Including President and Prime Minister to Be Formed Soon

Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam attended and spoke at the National Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam on the 20th (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

To Lam, 68, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the country's top-ranking official, was successfully re-elected on January 23 and will serve an additional five-year term.

According to Reuters and other foreign media, members of the Communist Party Central Committee elected General Secretary Lam as the next General Secretary at the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party, held at the National Convention Center in Hanoi on this day. Having first assumed the position in August 2024, Lam will now lead the Communist Party of Vietnam for another five years, until 2031.

Known as a "public security expert," Lam spent over 40 years in the Ministry of Public Security since 1979. After becoming Minister of Public Security in 2016, he rapidly rose to the pinnacle of power by leading a sweeping anti-corruption campaign-dubbed the "blazing furnace"-that led to the downfall of numerous high-ranking officials.

During his year in power, he carried out a government restructuring to eliminate bureaucratic inefficiency. As a result, he consolidated central government ministries and agencies from 30 to 22, and merged metropolitan administrative regions from 63 to 34, reducing approximately 150,000 civil servant positions. He also laid out plans for major infrastructure projects, including a north-south high-speed railway and the construction of nuclear power plants.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party also appointed the country's second to fourth highest-ranking officials-the President, Prime Minister, and National Assembly Chair-completing the selection of the next top leadership. The new leadership will be introduced at a press conference hosted by General Secretary Lam. Current President Vo Van Thuong and current Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh were excluded from the list of Central Committee members the previous day, making their departure virtually certain.