The Lao government has refuted a report by the U.S.-based Fact Finding Commission that some 240 Hmong ethnics from the jungles of Borikhamsay province were forced to surrender because of starvation.

The refute was carried by all state and government media. The government also rejected a report that Lao authorities have earlier arrested three Hmongs on suspicion of taking foreign journalists into Xiengkhuang province to do a documentary report on Hmong resistance. 

Lao FM Somsavath Lengsavad

The denial said the report  was a sheer fabrication by the FFC who is a tool of the so-called "bad elements," who bear ill-intention toward the Lao PDR.

Laos Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Somsavath Lengsavat said to VOA that the people who reported such story have not been in Laos and have not seen the true situation in the country, and that they simply reported the news according to what Vang Pao told them. 

Listen to our Laos Today report for details.