Girl Agents In Defence Plan

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31677, 13 May 1968, Page 13

Girl Agents In Defence Plan

( N Z.P.A.-Reuter-—<Copyright) SAIGON, May 12. Vice-President Nguyen Cao Ky has mapped out a new civil defence structure for South Vietnam in which young women will be cast in the roles of nurses and secret agents.

In a call for a national drive to defend the country against the Viet Cong, VicePresident Ky said the future of Vietnam, and the success of the Paris peace talks, would depend ultimately on the success or failure of the new civil defence organisation.

In a radio and television speech he told the nation what the Government would expect of civilians if South Vietnam's general mobilisation bill becomes law in the next few days, as is expected Vice-President Ky said men between the ages of 38 and 50 would be in charge of the military side of civil defence, while youths from 16 to 18 would be used in liaison work.

“All young women from 18 to 25 who are not married will be drafted into the social services, where they can either become nurses or work as intelligence agents,” he said.

“The fate of our country is in the hands of the people, in the hands of every Vietnamese civilian, man, woman, and child,” Vice-President Ky said.

Old people, he said, would be formed into advisory groups who would be consulted on community security by village and hamlet chiefs Vice-President Ky said that about 500,000 weapons were ready to be distributed to de-

fence groups, and this morning he attended a ceremony at which students were presented with rifles to begin a short self-defence training course.