North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam was created by the partition of Vietnam in 1954 after the defeat of France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The Viet Minh took control of North Vietnam on October 11, 1954.

North Vietnam's capital was Hanoi and it was ruled by a Communist government allied with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China and fought against the United States and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The People's Republic of China helped to support the government during the war; for example, on August 7, 1967 the PRC agreed to give North Vietnam and undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.

With the fall of Saigon (now officially Ho Chi Minh City, but still called Saigon by its inhabitants) to North Vietnamese forces in 1975, political authority within South Vietnam was taken by the Communist backed Republic of South Vietnam. This government merged with North Vietnam on July 2, 1976, to form a single nation called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, commonly known simply as Vietnam.

Human Rights Watch claims North Vietnam's army is currently pursuing the Montagnards (also known as Degar), a christian population who collaborated with USA during the Vietnam War. An article in Christianity Today says: "The communist campaign against Vietnam's Montagnard, Hmong, and unregistered house churches shows no signs of ending." [1]