Vietnam vowed on the 30th anniversary of the end of its "American War" not to give up the fight for compensation from US chemical companies linked to the production of the Agent Orange defoliant.
Earlier this year a United States court dismissed a suit on behalf of millions of Vietnamese who charged the US committed war crimes by its use of highly toxic Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, to deny communist troops ground cover for their operations in the war years.
Nguyen Thien Nhan, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City's People's Committee, said today even though two of the chemical companies now do business in Vietnam they still must admit their past misdeeds.
"We are upset because of the decision by the US court. We will continue gathering data and ask for the support by the international community," Mr Nhan told reporters on the anniversary day of the fall of then Saigon and unification of a nation long split between the communist north and capitalist south.
"If the two companies participate with their investment here, they are welcome. What they have done wrong is still wrong and they must take responsibility. I hope this lesson in the past will not be repeated in future."
In 1984, seven American chemical companies paid $180 million to settle a class action suit by US veterans, who claimed the defoliant caused cancer and birth defects.
At the same news conference, Pham Phuong Thao, chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People Council, promised to ease the plight of many South Vietnamese who were sent to so-called Re-education Camps and kept outside the mainstream of Vietnamese life for many years as losers of the war.
She vowed to step up contacts with groups representing the once South Vietnamese.
"We will enhance contacts with local people to hear from them more often about their thoughts and opinions. Now we have a meeting once a week," she said.
She said Vietnam had also taken steps to make it easier for relatives of dead South Vietnamese soldiers to visit the graves of their loved ones and stepped up care of a cemetery where many are buried.
For years the graves were rarely tended because of fears by families there were would be repercussions against them if they visited the sites.