Kou Voravong
The political crisis caused by his assassination, barely two months after the Geneva Agreements which prepared to restore peace in Indochina, contributed to bring down the current neutralist government (pro-French) which was replaced by a progressive one (pro-American) in extremely tense atmosphere of the Cold War between Russia and the United States. From 1955 indeed, the political history of this small landlocked country fell trapped inexorably in the ideological confrontation between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union, annihilating any hope of national unification.
Gong Peng
The Foreign Ministry was targeted by ultra-leftists during the Cultural Revolution. Red Guard student groups pillaged Gong's home, and many of her colleagues at the Foreign Ministry were pressured or sent to Labor Camps. Gong was exhausted by overwork, leading to hypertension. On September 20, 1970, she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing at the age of 56.