Vietnam Communist Party chief’s funeral draws thousands of mourners, including world leaders

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Thousands of mourners gathered in Hanoi on Friday for the second day of the funeral of the man who dominated Vietnamese politics for over a decade, Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

His death, at 80, last week in Hanoi marked the start of a succession struggle within the party that will likely to continue until the all-important National Party Congress of Vietnam’s Communist Party in 2026.

Trong’s coffin, draped in the red and yellow of Vietnam’s flag, was laid beneath his smiling portrait and dozens of medals at the National Funeral House in Hanoi on Thursday. All flags in the southeast Asian nation flew at half mast during the two-day period of national mourning, while all sports and entertainment were suspended.

He will be buried at Mai Dich cemetery, the final resting place for military heroes and senior party officials, later on Friday.

Top Communist Party officials paid tribute, including President To Lam, who took over as caretaker general secretary a day before Trong’s death was announced. Thousands of people, many of whom who had traveled from far-flung provinces, queued up in Hanoi late into Thursday to light incense and pay their respects.

Politburo member Luong Cuong said Thursday that his death was “an extremely huge, irreparable loss to the Party, the state, the people and his family.”

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Wang Huning, the fourth-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party; former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga; Cuban National Assembly President Esteban Lazo Hernandez; and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were among those in attendance on Thursday.

U.S. president Joe Biden had said earlier that Trong was a “champion of the deep