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Vietnam DM healthy, to return soon: official

Xinhua, July 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh is healthy and will return to Vietnam soon, said Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People' s Army on Monday, denying the information of Thanh's death.

Tuan told Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA that Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, also member of the Politburo and deputy secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, remains healthy and will return to Vietnam soon.

Tuan's response came after some foreign news agencies reported earlier on Monday morning that Thanh died in a French hospital on Sunday.

Pham Gia Khai, member of the Central Commission of Health Care for Senior Officials (CCHCSO), told VNA Monday that during war time Thanh got injured.

In late June, 2015, the CCHCSO carried out medical check-ups for Thanh but found no abnormal health signals.

Later, Thanh went on a working trip to France and had his health checked. The CCHCSO supplied more information and coordinated with French doctors for precise diagnosis and treatment regimen, VNA quoted Khai as saying.

Phung Quang Thanh, born in 1949, served as defense minister since 2006. Endi