Trần Trọng Kim, courtesy name Lệ Thần, was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a state established with the support of Imperial Japan in 1945 after Japan had seized direct control of Vietnam from Vichy France toward the end of World War II. He was an uncle of Bùi Diễm.
Trần Trọng Kim
Trần Trọng Kim, new prime minister of Empire of Vietnam. Photo by Dōmei Tsushin.
The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived puppet state of Imperial Japan governing the former French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin between March 11 and August 25, 1945. At the end of its rule, the empire also successfully reclaimed Cochinchina as part of Vietnam.
Announcement of the independence of the Empire of Vietnam, reported on Sài Gòn newspaper.
Mr Trần Trọng Kim as new prime minister of Empire of Vietnam. Photograph by Domei.
The celebration of June 17th, ĐVQGLM, 1945.
The proclamation of the Dai Viet National Socialist Party in 1945.