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.
Kou Voravong
When the general Phoumi Nosavan died in Bangkok in 1985, since the time-limit for conservation by the Department of Fine Arts was thirty years, questions arose regarding the statue of Kou Voravong. In 1989, the collapse of the communist Eastern Bloc – symbolized by the Berlin Wall's fall – allowed gradually Laos to enter the market economy, which then provided the opportunity for the Voravong children to approach the LPDR authorities for the return to the country of their father's statue. In 1992, the cost of conserving paid, the statue was legally returned to the family. The eldest daughter of Thao Bouaphet, who lived in Bangkok, entrusted it to the monastery of Amphawan (thai language: วัดอัมพวัน), around the Thai capital.