Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Koo Kwang-ming
Koo enrolled at what became National Taiwan University in 1941 to study political science. He became chair of the school's student association, and was active in opposition to the Kuomintang. He left Taiwan for Hong Kong soon after the 228 incident, and later settled in Japan. In 1972 Koo travelled in secret from Japan via Thailand to Taiwan. He met Chiang Ching-kuo, son of ruler Chiang Kai-shek to argue for the lifting of martial law. As a consequence he was expelled from the Japanese chapter of WUFI. The younger Chiang invited Koo to end his exile to "share in the affairs of the country". Koo accepted, but on landing in Taiwan was upset to see his return described as "surrender" in an evening newspaper. He replied that he "had not returned to surrender, but to bring my influence to bear [on the situation]". Influential independence activist Su Beng contradicted this assertion, accusing Koo of "surrendering to the Chiang government". Koo joined the Democratic Progressive Party in 1996, when fellow independence activist Peng Ming-min received its presidential nomination. Koo later served president Chen Shui-bian as an adviser, resigning his post and DPP membership in 2005.